ICC World Cup 2019: 5 Openers who are key to their team's success

Jonny Bairstow (England)

Bairstow has been a phenomenal opener for England in the last couple of years. He takes the attack to the opposition from ball one and can really keep the scorers busy with his scintillating stroke play. Bairstow has been one of the main reasons why England keeps mounting towering totals on the board. He scores runs at a strike rate of over a 100 and his form will be essential for England in the World Cup.

However, one of the challenges for him would be to negate the wrist spin threat. Bairstow has time and again failed to pick the variations of wrist spinners. If he can sort this out and keep the wrist spinners at bay, he'll end up scoring a lot of runs in the World Cup. One of the advantages that he has compared to his contemporaries is that the World Cup is being played in his own backyard. Naturally, Bairstow will be able to sum up the conditions well, understand the angles better and assess the pace of the wicket.