Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) don’t necessarily have to open with Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli in IPL 2022.
Although du Plessis opened for his former IPL franchise, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK), it should be noted that he mostly batted at No.3 for South Africa.
Kohli resumed as an opener for RCB in 2021.
Ahead of the start of the marquee tournament, here’s a look at the opening combinations RCB can tinker with.
#3 RCB’s de facto combo: Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis
This is a no-brainer. RCB can make a solid statement by sending two of their more solid batters to play through the innings. Both Kohli and du Plessis come with the right amount of expertise to build their innings.
The former Proteas skipper was instrumental as an opener for Chennai, racking up 633 runs from 16 matches, including six fifties in IPL 2021.
Kohli has notched 2750 runs from 76 IPL innings at an average of 43.65 and a strike rate of 136.68 batting at that position.
#2 Mahipal Lomror and Virat Kohli – Focus on having du Plessis bat at No. 3
From the perspective of RCB wanting the perfect bridge between the opening duo and Glenn Maxwell, getting du Plessis to play in the next slot would help the side.
It is a question of balance. Du Plessis has anchored the innings for SA batting at No.3 and the numbers are good. 1304 of his 1528 runs in T20Is have come from batting in that position.
His average of 37.26 and a strike rate of 135.41 also makes him one of the players who would look to play through the innings with Maxwell, Wanindu Hasaranga and Dinesh Karthik to follow.
In such a case, Mahipal Lomror and Kohli can open the innings for RCB.
#3 Faf du Plessi and Mahipal Lomror/Anuj Rawat – Focus on Kohli at No. 3
While Mahipal Lomror has a few games to show for his skills, Anuj Rawat comes off as a major gamble. But it could pay off if the hard-hitting gloveman has a license to go for runs in the powerplay.
Should he or Lomror fire off crisp 30s within the powerplay, that would be enough for the likes of Kohli and du Plessis to build on that foundation.
Like the former South African captain, Kohli has been India’s batting mainstay at No.3 and has accumulated 2457 runs from 61 innings at an average of 57.14 and a strike rate of 135.97.
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In the IPL, Kohli has 2696 runs from 85 IPL innings at an average of 36.93 and a strike rate of 123.84 batting at that position.
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