In the Indian Premier League when it comes to giving the team a blitzkrieg start in the powerplay there are a few names that remain constant in every cricket fans or experts’ analysis.
One certainly cannot miss Rohit Sharma or Virat Koli, who generally opens the innings for his IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and their number speak for themselves.
However, former Australia spinner Brad Hogg has not picked either of them in his top three powerplay batsmen in IPL.
Swashbuckling Australia and Sunrisers Hyderabad opener David Warner, one of the greatest ever IPL cricketers and Chennai Super Kings batsman Suresh Raina and Rajasthan Royals’ English batsman Joss Buttler have found themselves in Hogg’s list.
Righty-o, as promised, here’s the first video of a new series.
Who are the 3 BEST batsmen in the IPL – in the POWERPLAY overs? Any honourable mentions? Let’s find out on this episode of #HoggsVlog.
Watch the full vlog here: https://t.co/IbvXjpV5TQ pic.twitter.com/W0NewVIm3H
— Brad Hogg (@Brad_Hogg) March 28, 2020
The former chinaman spinner believed that Warner is a strong player on both the sides and complements his batting with fierce running between the wickets to make himself one of the best powerplay batsmen.
Hogg’s next pick Raina is a bit controversial as the southpaw, despite possessing some of the most-envied IPL stats, doesn’t open for CSK and comes at third. The same goes for wicketkeeper-batsman Buttler who, in contradiction, many think is one of the best finishers of recent times.
Meanwhile, the 13th edition of the IPL, which was scheduled to be played from March 29, has been postponed to April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, with India in the middle of a 21-day lockdown till April 14 in an attempt to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, IPL 2020 has been forced to face an existential crisis as the April 15 start looks highly unlikely now.
On the day the nationwide lockdown was announced, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, too, had failed to give clarity on the fate of this year’s cash-rich tournament amid the COVID-19 pandemic which has already affected more than 900 people in India and killed 20.