Opener then, finisher now: Evin Lewis adapts well to new role

Lewis adapted at No 4 and scored an unbeaten 55 off 23 balls to guide Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to their first-ever win in the IPL, against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), on Thursday.

Throughout his T20I career, Evin Lewis has opened the batting for West Indies. In ODIs too, he has opened in an overwhelming 50 out of 54 matches. An assimilation of some of the biggest hitters in the world, the Indian Premier League (IPL) however calls for a fresh approach to every position, be it in batting or bowling. Lewis knew that, adapted at No 4 and scored an unbeaten 55 off 23 balls to guide Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) to their first-ever win in the IPL, against Chennai Super Kings (CSK), on Thursday.

Evin Lewis of Lucknow Super Giants  (PTI)

“I had this chat with him (Lewis) before the first game,” LSG captain KL Rahul told Star Sports at the post-match presentation. “I said: ‘Me and Quinny will be opening, you might have to bat at three. When spinners are bowling I think you’ll be really, really dangerous’. He said ‘it doesn't matter’. Spinners or fast bowlers, he knows one way. But I think he's worked really hard on his batting from the last time I've seen him. His timing has gotten a lot better and he's hitting all over the park.”

If there’s one thing Lewis does well, it’s hitting the ball hard. Only last year did he cap a remarkable season with the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), aggregating 426 runs in 11 innings with a strike rate of 163.21. This also included a tournament-best tally of 38 sixes, bettering the record held by Chris Gayle (Jamaica Tallawahs) since 2016. Among Lewis’s several blistering knocks in the CPL, one match particularly stands out from the 2017 season. Asked to chase Barbados Tridents’ 128 to seal the second spot on the table for the Patriots, Lewis pummelled the bowling to score 97 off 32 balls. Ninety of those runs came in the form of 11 sixes and six boundaries. Gayle, his opening partner, ended on an unbeaten 22 off 14 balls.

For a batter who revels in opening, it can be mighty difficult adjusting to a new position. But the IPL has given us quite a few examples of openers turning prolific middle-order bats. Rahul had done it for some time, Sanju Samson too. Even Gayle (he batted at No 3 and 4 in 19 out of 141 IPL innings) had scored 99 in the 2020 IPL coming at No 3 for the erstwhile Kings XI Punjab. Devdutt Padikkal, who used to open for Royal Challengers Bangalore, batted at No 4 for Rajasthan Royals in their season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad, slamming 41 off 29. “It (batting at No 4) was an interesting experience,” Padikkal later said.

Nothing is permanent though. Take Robin Uthappa’s case, for example. Despite opening for India in his ODI debut, there was no way he could have opened the batting in the 2007 T20 World Cup with Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir in the squad. But when both openers fell early, Robin scored a fifty at No 3 to propel India to 141 in their group match against Pakistan. Uthappa has opened in nearly half of his IPL career—bulk of them coming in his stint at Kolkata Knight Riders—but since then has adapted superbly to become CSK’s go-to man at No 3. And yet when he was needed to open again because CSK had dropped Kiwi opener Devon Conway, Uthappa set up CSK’s innings by blasting 50 off 27 balls on Thursday.

Lewis was faced with a different equation when he walked out at No 4 in the 12th over. The platform of the chase had been set up by Rahul and de Kock in the form of a 99-run opening stand but when you are chasing 210, no amount of runs seem enough. Lewis however thrived in the thrill of the chase, not only anchoring it while LSG quickly lost de Kock and Deepak Hooda but also taking the attack to CSK’s bowlers. Ayush Badoni played his part again but it was Lewis who delivered the vital blows time and again, most significantly in the 19th over when he hit Shivam Dube for two boundaries and a six off three consecutive deliveries. That changed the equation from 23 required from nine balls to nine runs from six balls.