5 Players With Most Runs As An Opener For India In International Cricket
Published - 21 Jul 2021, 01:24 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:50 AM
Table of Contents
India has always had the privilege of some swashbuckling openers in almost every era of international cricket and it is set to continue in the forthcoming years too. The openers provide the perfect platform for the game and they have an important role to play in the team certainly.
Some of the openers have enjoyed playing in the powerplay as they can go after the bowling straight away and stack up against their runs column before the powerplay ends. It is an added advantage and here are five players with the most runs as an opener for India in international cricket.
Five Players With Most Runs As An Opener For India In International Cricket:
Shikhar Dhawan:
Shikhar Dhawan is fifth on the list of players with the most runs as an opener for India in international cricket. The left-hander has scored 10080 runs as an opener across all three formats with his best coming in the ODI format. Dhawan has been usually deployed as an opener in any format of the game.
He had a terrific start to his Test career as an opener but soon lost his place due to poor form and hasn’t played a test for a long time now. The 35-year-old still remains a big part of the limited-overs format for India and he is the standby captain for India for the limited-overs series against Sri Lanka.
*Stats updated until 21/07/21.
Rohit Sharma:
Rohit Sharma is fourth on the list of players with runs as an opener for India in international cricket. Rohit certainly would have been a lot higher in the list if he had opened straight away as he started off in the middle order for India. He did have a decent career in the middle order and until 2013, he wasn’t seen as an opener.
The 2013 Champions Trophy marked the entry of Rohit Sharma as an opener in limited-overs cricket and since then, he has been in scintillating form with the bat. He is among the best openers in the world at the moment and he has some staggering numbers in the last five years or so. So far, he has scored 10,736 runs as an opener in international cricket across the three formats.
*Stats updated until 21/07/21.
Sunil Gavaskar:
It is not a surprise that the legendary Sunil Gavaskar makes the list and he is third among the players with the most runs as an opener for India. Gavaskar is pipped to be one of India’s greatest cricketers of all time and he has scored 12258 runs in international cricket as an opener in the test and the ODI formats.
Gavaskar was the first-ever cricketer to cross the 10,000 run mark in tests and he still was an unbelievable player in his era to have stacked a lot of centuries against World-class bowlers.
*Stats updated until 21/07/21.
Sachin Tendulkar:
Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest batsmen of all time and he had a great career with the bat for India. He is second on the list of players with the most runs as an opener in international cricket for India with 15335 runs across formats and it came mostly in the 50 over format.
Sachin played a great hand for India while opening in the ODI format while he batted at the number four spot mostly in test cricket. He was a master of the straight drive and is an all-time leading run-scorer in international cricket.
*Stats updated until 21/07/21.
Virender Sehwag:
Virender Sehwag holds the record for the most runs as an opener for India in international cricket. The aggressive right-hander hit 15758 runs as an opener and like Rohit Sharma, he was first given an opportunity in the middle order. To get the best out of him, he was promoted up and he had an immediate impact.
Sehwag went on to become one of India’s best openers of all time with excellent numbers across all three formats and also his strike rate was an added advantage to the Indian team.
*Stats updated until 21/07/21.
Tagged:
India National Cricket Team Rohit Sharma Sachin Tendulkar Shikhar Dhawan Sunil Gavaskar Virender Sehwag
