Top 5 openers in ODIs going into the Champions Trophy
The Champions Trophy in England is nearing and teams will look to strategise and find the perfect balance in their squads. Most teams may still be undecided about their final 15 for the tournament and experimentation is still in process in the One Day squads.
A damp June in England will welcome teams and the ball is expected to do quite a bit unlike the 2013 edition, when the pitches had a distinct sub-continental feel. This means one prime area of focus will be openers at the top of the batting order.
Extra Cover: Top 5 finishers going into the Champions Trophy
As it stands, One-Day Internationals are dominated by opening batsmen who make scores bordering the 200-mark courtesy flat tracks and short boundaries. That is not to say these batsmen fair well only in such conditions. There are quite a few terrific opening batsmen in world cricket today.
Here, we take a look at five of the best ODI openers going into the major tournament in England.
#5 Hashim Amla
The South African batsman is one of the best openers in the world today, and together with another dynamic partner, Quinton de Kock, Hashim Amla has been in brilliant touch in ODI cricket, lately.
Although his Test form wavered in 2016, he was at the top of his game in the ODIs. Amla has 772 runs since 2016 in ODIs at an average of 42.88 with three hundreds, the highest of which came in Centurion last week against the Sri Lankans.
Amla also smashed another hundred against England in Centurion in early 2016 and also made a hundred against the West Indies in Basseterre in the tri-series. His form in recent weeks will give the Proteas a huge boost going into yet another major tournament.