Becoming a Champion Batter: How To Bat as an Opening Batter

Playing as an opening batter is all about having the perfect timing and punching the ball to perfection. It’s more about placement than power. The opening batter provides a foundation for the entire team. In every match, the team relies heavily on their opening pair, since they are the ones who set the tempo. It is not an easy batting position to play and an opening batsman has to face a lot of challenges.

So, in this article by ZAP, let's look at the the role, the importance and how to play as an opening batsman. 

The Importance of the Opening Batter

The role of an opening batter is to give a good start to the team. Their objective is to take time and settle down. They are the ones who have to asses the pitch conditions first and settle well. Conditions like pitch, weather, and outfield play a crucial role in a cricket match, and the better an opener judges it, the better they perform. This judgment helps batters down the order evolve their game as per the situation.

How to Excel as an Opening Batsman?

Sound Batting Technique

The first and foremost criteria for being considered a good opener is to have a sound batting technique. Any player with quality cricket batting stance and batting footwork can do well at this spot. The batter needs to have a top hand dominant batting technique. Along with that, they need to excel in straight batted shots like the straight drive, the cover drive, the on drive and the off drive. The reason for this is that openers need to tackle swing since the bowler bowls with a new ball. Hence, straight bat shots become handy in such conditions.

Along with the right batting technique, you also need a good and reliable cricket bat, which is more than just being a willow. A bat can give you the confidence and belief to do well in any batting position. You can checkout the ZAP English Willow Cricket Bats, the best in business, or customize a cricket bat exactly for your style and needs. 

Dealing with the New Leather Balls Movement

Credit: ABP LIVE - ABP News

Openers usually bat in the powerplay overs where the fielding is tightly packed with the new leather ball swinging. This is the most difficult period of the game to bat on, where you not only have to understand the line, length and swing of the deliveries well, but also counter attack to not let the bowler control the tempo of the game. Take Rohit Sharma for example, he is one of the world's best opening batter. His temperament is always to look for bad deliveries and punish the bowlers. That's how a good opener should start the innings off.

Opening Batting in Modern-Day Cricket

The game of cricket has been evolving and ever since the the arrival of T20 cricket, opening batting position has become the most important spot. They have a huge responsibility of setting the tempo of a match, either batting first of chasing a total. If the openers lose their wickets early, more often than not, we have seen the entire batting lineup struggle. 

Dealing with Pacers and Spinners as an Opener

In some situations, the captain asks their prime spinner to bowl the opening spell. When a spinner comes and bowls with the new ball, the batter has to quickly adapt and react accordingly. New balls tend to skid and not spin, and in some cases, they can move in different directions rather than spinning conventionally. This can be very tough for the batters and only the ones that can adjust and adapt quickly and naturally survive.

The pacers try to swing the new leather cricket ball more during the initial overs of the game. They will hit the good length spot more often with an attacking fielding position with a of slip and gully. To tackle that, the batter has to watch the ball till the last moment and play the ball as close to their body as possible.

Mentality of the Opener

Mentally, opening batters need to be very calm and react according to the situation. Their brain should be like a blank canvas, only then can they perform at the peak level. There is no need for them to pre-meditate a shot; they just need to respond to what the bowler bowls at them. They might have scoreboard pressure, but their foremost job is to go wicketless for the longest duration of the game and continue adding runs to the board.

FAQ:

There you have it, the right tips and techniques you need to know about batting as an opening batsman. 

You can read some more of our article to improve your batting to the next level. 

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