Who will open for Mumbai Indians: Mahela Jayawardene confirms MI’s opening batsmen for IPL 2020

Mumbai Indians: The defending champions have added a T20 specialist in Chris Lynn to bolster their top-order for IPL 2020.

Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma will continue to open the innings for his team in the 13th season of the Indian Premier League. Sharma’s comments have put to rest speculations around Indians planning to open with their recently included batsman in Australia’s Chris Lynn.

“I opened for the entire tournament last year and will continue to do that. As a team, we keep all options open. I’m happy to do what the team wants. I enjoy batting at the top of the order and I’ve been doing it for a while.

But even when I play for India, the message to the management is to not close any door and keep all the options open, so I’ll do the same here,” Sharma was quoted as saying during a virtual conference.

MI, who have won the most IPL titles (4) so far, will play the season opener with last year’s finalists in Chennai Super Kings in Abu Dhabi on September 19.

Who will open for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2020?

Speaking on similar lines during the virtual presser, Mumbai coach and former Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene considered Lynn as a “great addition” to their team but also talked about not tinkering with their successful opening pair of Sharma and wicket-keeper batsman Quinton de Kock.

“[Chris] Lynn is a great addition to the squad, but the combination of Rohit [Sharma] and Quinton [de Kock] did a phenomenal job for us last season. They complement each other well, they’re consistent and both of them are experienced. They’re good leaders as well, so why would you want to fix something that isn’t broken?

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“Lynn as an option gives us flexibility in the squad and that’s what we’ve always done. We try and add more value to the team, give more options so that we can be unpredictable when it comes to tournaments and big matches. Quinton and Rohit as a combination have been brilliant,” Jayawardene said.

Lynn, who made his IPL debut for Deccan Chargers in 2012, has joined Mumbai after a six-year stint at Kolkata Knight Riders. In 40 T20s for KKR, Lynn had scored 1,224 runs at an average and strike rate of 34.43 and 141.40 respectively including 10 half-centuries.