Tony de Zorzi impresses in Guwahati despite missing fifty by one run; fans want South Africa ‘for CSK as backup opener’

Tony de Zorzi continued his impressive form in the sub-continent with a gritty 49 in the ongoing second Test against India in Guwahati. Coming into the middle after the fall of Temba Bavuma on Day 4 morning, the southpaw added 101 runs for the fourth wicket with Trstain Stubbs to put the visitors in a commanding position in the game with a day left.

De Zorzi played 68 balls and hit four fours and a six during his time in the middle before a Ravindra Jadeja delivery trapped him for 49. With this known, De Zorzi continued his good form with the bat, having scored a hundred and a fifty on Pakistan soil before coming to India.

South Africa were 178/4 when De Zorzi got out, with the lead amounting to 466 runs for South Africa. Not only the South African played with precision, but the left-hander once again showed the Indians how to bat in these conditions. Earlier, in the first innings Senuran Muthusamy (109) and Marco Jansen (91) scored runs for the Proteas.

Meanwhile, De Zorzi's innings of 49 received much praise on social media, with one user urging Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to rope in the South African as a backup opener for the upcoming edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). The IPL 2026 auction will be held on December 16.

The call for De Zorzi as a backup opener for CSK stems from the fact that the five-time champions have released New Zealander Devon Conway earlier this month during the IPL 2026 retentions. With Ayush Mhatre and Ruturaj Gaikwad likely to open the innings, CSK would go for a backup opener during the IPL 2026 player auction.

Tony de Zorzi's batting numbers while opening

While De Zorzi bats in the middle order in Tests, the left-hander has opened the innings for South Africa in ODIs. In fact, his only hundreds for the national team in white-ball cricket came against India while opening the innings. Having made his ODI debut in 2023, De Zorzi managed 649 runs so far in 20 matches.

Interestingly, De Zorzi scored 455 runs while opening the innings. The rest of his ODI runs have come while batting at no.3 and 4.

How CSK's squad looks like before IPL 2026 auction?

As far as CSK are concerned, the five-time IPL champions have released a bunch of players ahead of the player's auction next month. Besides Conway, CSK have released the likes of Rachin Ravindra, Rahul Tripathi, Deepak Hooda and Vijay Shankar, who did not enjoy a good season.

However, CSK's biggest release was the duo of all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, who were traded for Sanju Samson from Rajasthan Royals.