Ten Best Openers in T20 Cricket World

T20 Cricket has seen many Destructive, Classic and Elegant T20 openers, from Chris Gayle to Martin Guptill and Abhishek Sharma. Nowadays, T20 cricket is an ever-evolving game. 

In this article, we will talk about the Ten Best Openers in T20 Cricket World.

#10 Babar Azam

Pakistan’s current T20I captain, Babar Azam, is the second-highest run scorer in the history of T20I cricket. Overall, he has scored 10820 runs in 289 innings at a strike rate of 129. Babar has 11 T20 hundreds to his name. He is second in the list of most T20 centuries; Chris Gayle is on top with 22 hundreds.

Babar Azam has scored centuries in various T20 leagues, such as the Lanka Premier League, Pakistan Premier League, and NatWest T20 Blast, and all of his centuries have come as openers. In 2021, Babar Azam scored his first T20I century, which came against South Africa when he smashed 122 runs off 59 deliveries.

Babafr Azam also scored T20I centuries in 2022 and 2023, and he has 90 T20 fifties to his name, which is more than Chris Gayle’s tally.

#9 Virender Sehwag

Virendra Sehwag was India’s destructive T20 opener. He scored 4K T20 runs at a strike rate of 148 and has 2 centuries to his name in the T20 format. He didn’t play much T20I cricket for India, but in the 19 matches that he played, he scored 394 runs at a strike rate of 145.

Sehwag also lit up the Indian Premier League with his destructive batting style, he smashed 2728 runs in IPL from 104 innings at an average of 27 and strike rate of 155.

#8 Devon Conway

New Zealand’s Devon Conway has been a successful T20 opening batter in the T20 Internationals. He has opened in 26 innings, scoring 772 runs at a strike rate of 122. Conway in IPL plays for Chennai Super Kings, and he played a significant role in CSK’s fifth IPL trophy win. In the finals, in a tricky run chase, Conway provided an attacking start to his team. He won the Player of the Match award in the IPL 2023 Final. 

Devon Conway, as an opener in his IPL career, has scored 924 runs at a strike rate of 141. He also played a huge role for New Zealand in the T20 World Cup 2021, where they reached the finals. He has an average of 34 in the T20 World Cup.

#7 Mohammad Rizwan

Pakistan’s Mohammad Rizwan has been one of the most successful T20I openers since 2021; earlier, he used to bat in the middle order in T20Is, but since he started to open, he has never looked back. In T20Is, Rizwan has an average of 54 as an opener and a strike rate of 131; he has smashed 2951 runs in 68 innings. 

Rizwan also plays in various T20 leagues, such as the Lanka Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League, and Pakistan’s Pakistan Super League, where he leads the Multan Sultans team. Rizwan has 66 T20 Fifties to his name and has also scored 2 T20 centuries.

#6 Alex Hales

England’s former T20I opener, Hales, is still one of the finest T20 openers; He has kept himself available for T20 leagues. Hales played a significant role in England’s T20 World Cup triumph in the year 2022

Alex Hales scored 1925 runs in 70 innings for England as an opener. He averaged 30 runs per inning and had a strike rate of 138. In the 2022 T20 World Cup, Hales scored runs at a strike rate of 147 for England, providing them with an aggressive start in most of the matches. 

#5 Martin Guptill

Martin Guptill was one of New Zealand’s best T20I openers. He scored 3170 runs in 102 innings at an average of 32 and a strike rate of 140. Martin Guptill has scored 6 T20 centuries overall, 2 for New Zealand and 4 in franchise cricket. He was an active player in franchise cricket for years, and this year, too, he was seen in the Pakistan Super League.

Guptill is the fifth-highest run-getter in T20I history. Rohit Sharma and Paul Stirling are ahead of him. They have played more innings as well, but they are inactive in T20Is. Virat Kohli and Babar Azam are the top two batters with the most T20I runs in men’s cricket.

Although Martin Guptil didn’t taste much success in the IPL, he played 13 matches and Scored 270 runs at an average of 22.5 and a strike rate of 138.

#4 Jos Buttler

England’s White Ball Captain, Jos Buttler, became a T20 opener when Mumbai Indians made him open in the IPL 2017, as he was struggling with form in the middle order. Since that move, he has been one of the best openers in the IPL since 2019. He has been playing for Rajasthan Royals since 2018. Jos Buttler has 7 IPL centuries to his name, which is second to Virat Kohli’s.

Jos Buttler averages 47 with the bat as an opener in T20Is, and his strike rate is 152. In the T20 World 2021, he scored his first T20I century, and in the T20 World Cup 2022, he scored 225 runs in 6 innings at an average of 45 and strike rate of 144; he led England to the T20 WC win.

#3 Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli has not played many T20Is as an opener, but he has been a successful opener in IPL history. He has scored 4352 runs in 113 innings and smashed 8 centuries, which is the highest number of centuries by any batter in IPL history. Virat’s all IPL hundreds have come as an opener.

In T20 Internationals, Virat Kohli has opened in 9 innings and has an average of 57 and a strike rate of 161 

#2 Rohit Sharma

Indian Captain Rohit Sharma has scored Five T20 International centuries. Rohit has opened for India in T20Is in 116 innings, and he has averaged 32 and has a strike rate of 142

Rohit Sharma, as an opener in T20 cricket, has 6241 runs from 218 innings; he scored runs at a strike rate of 137 and an average of 30.

#1 Chris Gayle

Chris Gayle scored a century in the first match of the T20 World Cup 2007. He also holds the record of scoring the most centuries in T20 Cricket as an opener; for West Indies, he scored 2 centuries, and in franchise cricket, he smashed 20 centuries.

As an opener in T20 cricket, Chris Gayle scored 13649 runs in 405 innings at a strike rate of 146 and an average of 38.

Read Next | The Ten Greatest T20 Finishers with Bat