IPL 2020: Key middle-order batting pair for each franchise in case of a top-order collapse
The competition in the Indian Premier League is getting heftier with each season as the bowlers are trying every way to overcome the batsmen and vice-versa.
The pacers like Jasprit Bumrah, Dwayne Bravo, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jofra Archer, Lasith Malinga, Deepak Chahar, Mohammed Shami are widening their arsenal with knuckle-balls, slower bumpers, back of the hand slower balls whereas spinners like Sunil Narine, Kuldeep Yadav, Rashid Khan, Yuzvendra Chahal, Shreyas Gopal, R. Ashwin and others adding the flavor of mystery in their tank.
In T20 cricket, especially in the Indian Premier League, more often than not the matches go till the last over. Since the top 3 can't help win games in every match, the need for specialists in the middle becomes substantial who can rebuild the innings during the times of trouble as there is not enough time in a 20-overs game to build a partnership cautiously.
Here are the batting pairs for each IPL franchise who can rebuild and attack the opposition bowlers even when there is a top-order failure.
#1 MS Dhoni & Ambati Rayudu (Chennai Super Kings)
Chennai Super Kings are blessed to have one of the most successful middle-order batsmen in international cricket by their side since the inception of the Indian Premier League. In all these years, MS Dhoni has won them numerous games single-handedly and though he has reached the declining stage of his career, the 38-year-old still has it to take the burden on his shoulders. Dhoni has been one of the top-run getters for CSK in most of the IPL seasons even after batting lower down the order.
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Apart from the former Indian captain, Ambati Rayudu has also been on fire. He mostly opened the batting for CSK initially, but whenever he batted at no. 4 or 5, the 34-year-old helped the men in yellow in crossing the line.