In an IPL season where the broad theme of skyscraping totals has faced smart rejection, a wave of alternatives has emerged to spice up India’s T20I top-order batting scene.
Seven months out from a T20 World Cup title defence in familiar sub-continent conditions, there could be up to six top-billing bats in the mix to firm up India’s top two spots – three if captain considers a No. 4 move.
Despite opening in the last 12 T20Is that India have played since last October, smashing records and four centuries between them, and Sanju Samson will confront cut-throat competition for their slots in the months ahead. Levelling up the accumulation game to never-before-seen levels in the IPL with the , Sai Sudharsan and have established another portal to T20’s opening game.
A string of long-format commitments kept him away in late 2024, but Yashasvi Jaiswal is back up and firing, letting everybody take note of his high ceiling as India’s best all-format opener. And if the team management still searches for assurance on the world T20 stage next year, has announced that he’s around too, smashing a fifth IPL century opening for the over the weekend.
The room for rehearsals and rearrangements before the World Cup could be measured to 15 high-intensity T20Is against Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. India’s Bangladesh tour in August and subsequent Asia Cup participation remain uncertain.
Three contenders – Sudharsan, Gill and Jaiswal – currently occupy the top positions on the IPL 2025 leaderboard with impressive profiles to challenge Abhishek and Samson, who have had quieter runs this season.
While Abhishek has unfurled his explosive range in patches for , Samson has collided with a brief rut. Starting with poor T20I returns and a finger injury facing England in January, a side strain has also limited Samson’s IPL game time with the .
Abhishek and Samson paired up top for the first time in the Bangladesh series in October last year after India had slotted Jaiswal and Gill for two series in Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka before their red-ball commitments.
Making the most of this break, Abhishek and Samson conjured up incredible numbers across three series, sending India’s top-order scoring through the roof in the first signs of a change of guard under Suryakumar’s full-fledged leadership. Should the team management stick to this unflinchingly gung-ho approach at the top, Abhishek and Samson will receive an extended run.
Continuing the Samson-Abhishek combine will instantly warrant certain sacrifices, consistency and tall averages are high on that list. Their salvo burns bright but throws up a glaring caveat.
Since the last World Cup, Abhishek and Samson have topped the batting charts for India, scoring 535 and 487 runs in 16 innings respectively. Opening together in 12 innings, the pair have managed only 165 runs between them for the first wicket, with a solitary 50-plus stand, lasting just 27.1 overs.
The ‘partnership’ frailties are overshadowed by their individual scoring prowess, with Samson notching three hundreds and Abhishek blitzing the highest T20I score for the country with his rampaging 135 against England in the last outing in January.
While their averages lurk in the 30s, Samson and Abhishek offer rapid starts in the first half of the innings to set course for frenetically high totals, channelling powers in different phases. The southpaw Abhishek has plundered 301 T20I runs at a 179.16 strike rate in the Powerplay since his debut last year, the highest on both fronts. A relatively slow starter, Samson bosses the spread-out fields, amassing 260 runs in the middle-overs (7-16) with a jaw-dropping 208.00 strike rate since last year, the best for India by a fair clip.
In many ways, the Gill-Sudharsan formula this IPL season is an antithesis to India’s current T20I openers. Even as it works incredibly well for the Titans, it will be intriguing to see if India press backwards from the newly established order.
With the might of the association, Gill and Sudharsan have bettered on multiple counts in their respective T20 games. Firmly moving on from the tag of scoring a chunk of his runs only at home in , Gill leads the away-scoring list this IPL with 445 runs. Building on his best IPL year thus far, the left-handed Sudharsan is almost infallible in the Powerplay, averaging 161 for 323 runs in the first six overs. But the sheen of Sudharsan and Gill’s strike rates dim when placed against that of Jaiswal and Abhishek, tasked with faster starts by their respective teams.
A glittering finish to a breakout IPL season – 356 runs at 190-plus SR – could even throw ’ uncapped Priyansh Arya into the mix, behind the six internationals in the fray.
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After an iffy 2024 season where he struggled to make the Test-to-T20 transition, Jaiswal has aced the travails this time. The RR opener leads the Powerplay phase with 333 runs at 176.19 SR, bettering Sudharsan by 20 runs and Gill by 26 every 100 balls in the phase.
Stylistically, Jaiswal is the most likely contender to match the template set by Abhishek and Samson in national colours in his absence, even presenting a case for an excitable top 3.
But in a scenario where India begin to be wary of stronger oppositions, Gill, Sudharsan and Rahul could come into the picture, offering solid runs at the cost of quicker runs. The white-ball cohesiveness and risk-free scoring from the Gujarat openers will be difficult for the selectors to ignore.
As for Rahul, who continues to juggle between multiple positions with , a return to the T20I side will heavily revolve around wicket-keeper Samson’s exploits in India’s immediate assignments.
The strike-rates can still fall under scrutiny sometimes, as it did with his latest, 60-ball hundred at the Kotla. But Rahul’s range and ICC tournament know-how from as recent as the Champions Trophy triumph will keep him close on the mercurial Samson’s heels.
The tall Karnataka keeper-bat can unleash some breathtaking strokes against high pace and offer stability in his No. 4 alter ego. But Rahul has his vulnerabilities against spin as his scoring rates fail to match up to Samson, Abhishek and Jaiswal.
Anchor-aggressor debates will rage again when India begin to limber up for a home World Cup. The team management will soon have to address this unique conundrum thrown up by the IPL: a glut of top-order talent and three opening formulas to choose from – insane intent, spotless batting or something in between.
