IPL 2019: Possible openers for each IPL side

It has been finally confirmed that the 12th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) will be held in India.

Among the players who were in the recently concluded auction in December, Jaydev Unadkat and Varun Chakravarthy were the costliest buys as they were bought for a whopping price of ₹8.4 Cr by Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively.

With the IPL Auctions done and dusted, each team will look to prepare a proper team combination to lift the IPL trophy this year.

Over the years, we have seen that it is important to provide the flying starts to the team, especially in the T20 format. Hence, each and every franchise needs good openers who can provide blistering starts for their respective sides.

In this article, we take a look at the players who can possibly open the innings for their respective franchises in the next edition of the cash-rich league.

#1 Kolkata Knight Riders - Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine

Even though Kolkata Knight Riders have a lot of openers in the squad, they will be expected to continue with their destructive opening pair - Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine. While Narine could maximize the powerplay overs, Lynn can thrash any pace attack on his day.

In the previous edition of the premier T20 league, Lynn and Narine scored 491 and 357 runs at a strike-rate of about 130 and 190 respectively. Their opening combination was a success and they will mostly not try to change the openers.

The Australian hard hitter, Lynn, is expected to depart in the second half of the tournament. If Lynn leaves to Australia midway through the tournament, either Robin Uthappa or Joe Denly could replace him at the top order.