Cricket has long moved on from ‘Catches win matches’. In Twenty20 cricket, a handful of runs in the PowerPlay provides a solid headstart to the batting team.
Gone are the days of slow and steady starts. It is during the first six overs that opening batters exploit the fielding restrictions – only two fielders are allowed outside the ring – to look to register as many boundaries as possible.
Some have mastered the art. Like Royal Challengers Bangalore’s skipper Faf du Plessis and talisman Virat Kohli. The duo, scoring at an average of 62.88 per game, have also had two century stands this season. Their best of 148 came in an eight-wicket victory against Mumbai Indians.
Chennai Super Kings’ Devon Conway and Ruturaj Gaikwad are the only other opening pair in the top five to have forged a 100-plus-run stand.
Here are the top five opening combinations of IPL 2023 updated until RR vs GT –
| Serial No. | Opening batters | Innings | Runs | Average | 50 | 100 | Highest |
| 1 | Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis | 9 | 566 | 62.88 | 2 | 2 | 148 |
| 2 | Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal | 9 | 453 | 50.33 | 5 | 0 | 98 |
| 3 | Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad | 9 | 438 | 48.66 | 3 | 1 | 110 |
| 4 | Kyle Mayers, KL Rahul | 8 | 365 | 45.62 | 4 | 0 | 82 |
| 5 | Wriddhiman Saha, Shubman Gill | 10 | 273 | 27.30 | 1 | 0 | 71 |
