5 most successful opening batsmen for India in ODIs

Sachin Tendulkar

The God of Cricket.

There was no doubt that anyone would topple the Master Blaster for the top spot in this list. Sachin Tendulkar was a constant presence at the top of the Indian batting order for almost 20 years and, boy, what an mighty player he was at the top!

There was a time in the late 1990s that the people used to stop watching a match after Sachin got out. This is the impact he had when he was at his prime.

He opened the innings on 340 occasions for India - the most by any player for any batting postion. He scored a record 15310 runs at an average of 48.30 and a strike rate of 88.30.

The time when even a strike rate of 80 was considered impressive, Sachin's strike rate is a specimen of how destructive he was in his prime. 45 out of his 49 ODI hundreds were scored while opening the innings, which include memorable innings like his 186(against New Zealand), the twins hundreds at Sharjah(against Australia) and 200(against South Africa). His records are enough proof to solidify his stance as not only the best opening batsman, but also the best player in the history of cricket.