IPL Auction 2020: 3 teams that will be looking to sign specialist openers  

Openers have a huge say in a team's fortunes in T20 cricket. The kind of start the openers provide paves the way for big totals, which is why IPL openers have always been in the limelight.

Be it Brendon McCullum, who kick-started the IPL with a blistering knock in the inaugural match in 2008, or Chris Gayle, who has entertained the crowds for years with his big-hitting, openers have garnered a lot of attention. Even Virat Kohli, who normally bats in the middle-order for the national side, opens the innings for RCB in the IPL.

Teams have always put a lot of emphasis on having strong openers in their squad. That said, the expectations are also very high from the openers; if they fail to perform in a couple of matches, more often than not they are dropped from the playing XI.

Quite a few well-established international openers like Chris Lynn, Evin Lewis and Martin Guptill have been released by their sides this year. Against that background, here are three teams that will need to sign up specialist openers at the auction.

Also see - India West Indies head to head

#3 Rajasthan Royals

Jos Buttler and Ajinkya Rahane

Squad: Ankit Rajpoot, Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Jos Buttler, Mahipal Lomror, Manan Vohra, Mayank Markande, Rahul Tewatia, Riyan Parag, Sanju Samson, Shashank Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Steven Smith, Varun Aaron

After trading out Ajinkya Rahane, Rajasthan Royals are in desperate need of a specialist opener who can hold the fort for them at the top.

Jos Buttler has had huge success as an opener for the Royals and they will bank on him to come good once again in the upcoming season. But Buttler is a regular member of England across formats, which raises questions over his availability.

They do have the option of opening with Sanju Samson and Manan Vohra, but Samson isn't a specialist opener while Vohra hasn't played too many games in the IPL of late. Thus, the Royals will need to rope in openers at the auction.

Martin Guptill and Colin Munro will be on their radar.

#2 Royal Challengers Bangalore

Parthiv Patel and Virat Kohli

Squad: AB de Villiers, Devdutt Padikkal, Gurkeerat Singh, Moeen Ali, Mohammed Siraj, Navdeep Saini, Parthiv Patel, Pawan Negi, Shivam Dube, Umesh Yadav, Virat Kohli, Washington Sundar, Yuzvendra Chahal

Royal Challengers Bangalore raised quite a few eyebrows when they played with just a couple of specialist openers in their squad last season. Parthiv Patel and Devdutt Padikkal were the only specialist openers in RCB's squad in IPL 2019. Fortunately for them, Virat Kohli and Parthiv Patel opened the innings throughout the season and did exceptionally well for the side.

It will be interesting to see whether RCB decide to take the punt once again, or try and include more openers. If it is the latter, one player RCB will be looking at with interest is the recently released Chris Lynn.

Lynn has decimated several bowling attacks in the IPL in the past and will be a perfect fit for RCB, who have spent big bucks on big hitters in the past.

#1 Kolkata Knight Riders

Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine

Squad: Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Harry Gurney, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldeep Yadav, Lockie Ferguson, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Rinku Singh, Sandeep Warrier, Shivam Mavi, Shubman Gill, Siddhesh Lad, Sunil Narine

Kolkata Knight Riders sprang a huge surprise by releasing star opener Chris Lynn ahead of the auction.

KKR have been extremely flexible when it comes to batting positions in the past. Despite having the likes of Robin Uthappa in the side, they have opened with Sunil Narine quite regularly and to their credit, the move has worked more often than not.

Last season they began the season with Nitish Rana as opener but as the season progressed they experimented with the position quite a bit.

However, now that they have released Lynn, they will need to find a strong candidate for that position. While they always have the option of buying the Aussie back at the auction, it won't be a surprise if they put their money on Mumbai's young teen sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal.