Kolkata Knight Riders made a smashing start to the 10th season of IPL when Chris Lynn ran through the bowlers of Gujarat Lions. But unfortunately, Lynn suffered a shoulder injury in the next match against Mumbai Indians and was ruled out of the IPL. It was almost certain that KKR will go in with their trusted opening combination of Gambhir and Uthappa after that.

But to everyone’s surprise, KKR’s think tank came up with Sunil Narine to open with the skipper in the third match against Kings XI Punjab. The West Indian went on to smash as many as 37 off just 18 balls 4 fours and 3 sixes and set the platform for a comfortable chase. Since then, he opened the innings regularly for KKR with the scores of 6, 42, 34 and 16, all in double quick time.

KKR have shown the way how to make use of a pinch-hitter like Narine. There are various such batsmen in other IPL franchises who can do a similar job. Let’s have a look at the potential batsmen who can do something like Narine.

1. Stuart Binny

The Indian all-rounder Stuart Binny has been an integral part of the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s team from past couple of years or so. But he has been in and out from the team on a consistent basis. He bats down the order and even most of the times he doesn’t get to complete his full quota of overs while bowling as he has hardly ever bowled in the death overs.

Binny has the ability to use the long handle and strike some big hits. He can be prospect for RCB in the absence of regular opener and replicate Narine like performance in future. If given a chance up the order, he can exploit the powerplay and make some quick runs.