IPL: Players who have batted at surprising batting positions

Twenty20 cricket has changed the dynamics of cricket. The Indian Premier League is the face of T20 cricket and has sprung many surprises on us over its course of ten years. Tactics unimaginable in the pre-T20 era have been employed in the glamorous league that is the IPL.

One tactic that has now been employed quite often is that of sending a pinch-hitting bowler up the order in order to hasten the run rate. Let us look at some of these cases wherein an unexpected player was seen batting high up the order:

Praveen Kumar - Opener

Praveen Kumar started his career with the bat in the domestic circuit for Uttar Pradesh. This was not feasible in Indian colours though, owing to the quality of batting present in the national team at that time.

However, Kumar did get a chance to open the batting on a couple of occasions in the Indian Premier League. His first opportunity came very early on, in just the seventeenth game in IPL history. The Royal Challengers Bangalore were struggling with their opening partnership and Bharat Chipli was out of form at the top of the order. Chipli was dropped from the starting eleven and to everyone's surprise, it was Praveen Kumar who came out to the middle with Wasim Jaffer to open the innings.

Unfortunately for him, Kumar faced one of the greatest bowlers at the time, Glen McGrath. He did manage to score a boundary but was soon after dismissed in the fifth delivery of the first over. He did get another opportunity to open the innings, but was dismissed for a duck.

Harbhajan Singh - Number 3

Harbhajan Singh has hit some scintillating knocks for the Mumbai Indians

The last league game of the 2011 edition of the IPL saw the Kolkata Knight Riders square off against the Mumbai Indians. Both teams were through to the playoffs. However, the Knight Riders had an added incentive to win this game. They would make it to the top two and thus not only have two shots at making the final but would also automatically qualify for the noe defunct Champions League.

The Knight Riders set the Mumbai Indians a daunting target of 176 and the team from Mumbai lost an early wicket in their run chase. With the likes of Rohit Sharma, Kieron Pollard, and Ambati Rayudu in the dugout, it was shocking to see the "turbanator" Harbhajan Singh walk in to the crease!

Though 'Bhajji' has been coming in to bat in the top of the order for his home state of Punjab in recent times, it was a very surprising move back in 2011. Harbhajan managed to score an important 30 runs in this game, which the Mumbai Indians won off the very last ball thanks to a Rayudu six!

Mitchell McClenaghan - Number 4

Mitchell McClenaghan depositing the ball into the crowd for the Mumbai Indians

In the twelfth match of IPL 2017, the Royal Challengers Bangalore set a modest target of 143 for the Mumbai Indians to chase. Mitchell McClenaghan was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4-0-20-2.

In the chase, explosive opener, Jos Buttler, got out cheaply in the second over. The other opener, Parthiv Patel, succumbed to Samuel Badree in the second ball of the third over. One of Nitish Rana, Kieron Pollard, or the Pandya brothers were expected to come in to bat next. However, to everyone's surprise, it was Mitchell McClenaghan who joined Rohit Sharma at the crease!

Whatever the intention of this move might have been, it backfired as McClenaghan got out for a golden duck. Badree then went on to dismiss skipper Rohit Sharma to complete an extraordinary hat-trick.

However, this was the second time that McClenaghan batted at number 4. The first instance was back in April 2016 against the Kolkata Knight Riders. Chasing a daunting target of 188, the Mumbai Indians lost the wicket of Hardik Pandya in the eleventh when the team score was 87.

With skipper Rohit Sharma settled in at one end, McClenaghan was sent in for some pinch hitting to decrease the required run-rate. He didn't disappoint, dispatching three sixes into the ground before losing his wicket to Kuldeep Yadav. His 20 runs in 8 balls were handy in Mumbai's successful run chase, and this 20 remains McClenaghan's highest score in the IPL.

Ravichandran Ashwin - Opener

Ravichandran Ashwin started his career as a batsman

The 26th match of IPL 2013 saw two-time champions Chennai face off against defending champions, Kolkata. Excellent bowling by the spinning duo of Ashwin and Jadeja saw the Knight Riders put up a measly target of 120 on the board for the Super Kings to chase.

However, the Knight Riders had lethal spinners of their own in their squad - Sunil Narine and Sachithra Senanayake. The heavily spinning track at the Eden gardens could assist these quality spinners immensely and make a modest target of 120 look daunting.

MS Dhoni had an interesting trick up his sleeve to counteract the spin issue. Unbelievably, it was Ravichandran Ashwin who strode out to the middle to open the innings with Michael Hussey. Ashwin did start his career with the bat and had opened for Tamil Nadu in the domestic circuit before. However, that was well in the past and Ashwin normally came down the order for the Super Kings.

The trick didn't particularly work thought as Ashwin was dismissed for 11 by the in-form Sunil Narine.

Sunil Narine - Opener

Sunil Narine has become one of the deadliest all-rounders in the shortest format of the game

Chris Lynn succumbed to his persistent shoulder injury against the Mumbai Indians in April 2017. This left the Knight Riders with a vacant opening slot in their next game, which was against the Sunrisers Hyderabad. To everyone's surprise, it was ace spinner Sunil Narine who strode out to the crease to open the innings along with Gautam Gambhir. Narine has been one of the sensations with the ball in the IPL but his skills with the bat were yet to be unveiled.

Chasing a tricky 171, Narine smashed 37 runs off just 18 balls to make the chase easier for the Knight Riders. Narine went on to amass 224 runs in IPL 2017 at an astonishing strike rate of over 170. This included a 15-ball half-century against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, which is the joint record for fastest fifty in IPL history!