OPENING DILEMMA

Going For Broke From The Word Go Or Playing The Tried And Tested Way — What Should Be India’s Approach In Twenty20 World Cup? TOI Takes A Look...

- Dwaipayan Datta

It was in the 1992 ODI World Cup when we first saw that opening the batting was not necessarily about playing out the new ball. Mark Greatbatch showed that with field restrictions in place, it was probably the best time to launch an attack that would make the job of the middle-order easier.

Sri Lankan swashbucklers Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana took the cue and took it to another level four years later — an approach that became the go-to for most teams across the world in limited-overs cricket.

While ODI, from time to time, allowed the scope for restraint on the part of openers, the dynamics of T20 cricket demanded a completely different gear. Teams looked to get off the blocks in a hurry and 50 became a minimum in the first six overs to push for a competitive total.