5 greatest ODI openers of all time

The role of an opener in coloured clothing is a far cry from the one against the red ball: while the first two batsmen to come out in Tests are tasked with the dirty job of grinding the new ball, and seeing off the initial testing period of play, openers in limited-overs have the license to play their shots and accumulate quick runs in the powerplay overs.

Condensed fields, better surfaces and shorter boundaries further assist their cause.

However, some players managed to consistently develop their game at the top, even with the changing dynamics of the one-day format. With the turn of the new millennium, opening had developed into a specialised art.

Here are five players who have been the best exponents of this art over the years:

The minimum criteria for selection has been set at 150 innings, hence Rohit Sharma, a three-time double centurion in ODIs, misses out.

Other notable absentees include Sourav Ganguly, Chris Gayle, Gordon Greenidge and Virender Sehwag.

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Saeed Anwar

The rock at the top of an inconsistent Pakistani batting line-up of the 90s, Saeed Anwar’s grace was overshadowed by his remarkable effectiveness at the top of the order, sometimes single-handedly taking the men in green past the finish line.

A prolific scorer against the Indian team particularly, Anwar was known for his long stays at the crease even in ODIs, most notably during his mammoth knock of 194, that remained the joint-highest ODI score for thirteen years. A remarkable reader of line and length, Anwar played to his strengths but developed them to such an extent that, on his day, he looked impregnable.

In a total of 220 games at the top of the order, Anwar scored 8156 runs at an average of close to 40 and with 20 centuries to his name. His impact on the game remained unquestioned: in 21 World Cup games, he averaged close to 54, with three hundreds.

Sanath Jayasuriya

Jayasuriya revolutionised the role of an opener in ODIs

A buccaneering batsman who let loose irrespective of situation or opponents, Jayasuriya wasn’t called a ‘Marauder’ for nothing. Slightly built but laden with immense power and tremendous hand-eye harmony, he was a pioneer-of-sorts in the 50-overs format, combining with Romesh Kaluwitharana to redefine the role of a pinch-hitter.

For more than two decades, Jayasuriya kept churning runs for the Lankans (while contributing admirably, and oddly, underrated with the ball). The move to the top of the order, however, came only four years after his debut (in 1993).

Part of the 1996 World Cup winning team, Jayasuriya was brutal on the off-side, using his short height to get under the delivery and launch it over the infield. He could flick anything that landed on the stumps to the leg side, frequently sending it sailing into the square leg stands.

Desmond Haynes

Haynes remarkably mixed aggression with a solid technique

There was more to the legend of Desmond Haynes than his evergreen partnership with Gordon Greenidge for West Indies. Haynes was a revelation at the top of the format when the limited-overs form was only gaining ground.

More than the numbers (which are impressive considering the era he played in), Haynes was a solid batsman who knew when to attack, and how to smash attacks to smithereens: if you remember Vivian Richards’s maverick batting, you should also remember Haynes smashing Chetan Sharma, and later Jeff Thomson, for three consecutive hook shots.

As an opener, Haynes amassed a whopping 8648 runs at an average over 41, compiling 17 hundreds in the process.

Adam Gilchrist

Gilchrist's impact at the top of the order was immensely beneficial to Australia's fortunes

Purely on impact value, Adam Gilchrist’s imprint on ODI cricket was far greater than many of his peers, and his pyrotechnics at the top of the order were indispensable to Australian cricket. Flappy-eared and forever grinning, Gilchrist hardly looked the kind who could smother bowling attacks, but his bat would turn into a sledgehammer when the bowler would run in with a brand new white ball in hand.

Brutal on the off-side and effortless on the leg, Gilchrist smashed anything that had even a shade of width to the boundary with his butchery cut shot. He used to use his feet often against spinners, not letting them keep him quiet even for a short span.

Part of a young crop of players earmarked for future glory in the early 1990s, Gilly made his debut in 1996, but struggled in the middle-order, batting at 6 and 7.

In a flash of tactical brilliance, Gilchrist was thrown up the order against South Africa in 1998 and smashed a century in only his second innings at the top.

He ended with 15 more ODI tons, and was part of the World Cup winning teams in 1999, 2003 and 2007, scoring an unbeaten 149 in the final World Cup game of his career.

Sachin Tendulkar

Sachin remains the greatest ODI opener of all time

Inarguably the greatest ODI opener of all time, Sachin Tendulkar wasn’t even a regular at the top slot when he began his career. Five years after his first game, Tendulkar was bumped up to the opener’s role, and took to it like fish to water, stacking figures that would have previously seemed unachievable.

In 344 games at the top of the order, Sachin amassed 15,130 runs, notching as many as 45 ODI tons at an average of 48.29 and a strike-rate of 89. The most notable feature of his batting was the ability to pace his innings and play starkly different roles in varying phases of the innings. A batsman with almost every stroke in his quiver, Tendulkar unleashed his shots with a watertight batting technique, one that could quickly adapt based on the conditions and the opposition.

What worked for Tendulkar as an opener was his adept utilisation of the powerplay overs, picking up gaps with effortless ease. Even when the fielders spread out, he used to pick bowlers to attack and ran shrewdly between the wickets to keep the run-rate up.