4 great batting pairs in ODI cricket history
ODI cricket has witnessed some great batting pairs over the years who have thoroughly entertained their fans over a long period of time, not just by scoring tons of runs, but by scoring them with a lot of authority and class. While most of the famous batting pairs have been left-right combinations as the bowlers always found it difficult to adjust their lines to them, there have been a few pairs who have not had left-right combination, but they still managed to trouble the bowlers time and again whenever they were together at the crease. Here are the 4 greatest pairs in ODI cricket history.
#1 Sachin Tendulkar - Sourav Ganguly
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly batted together for the first time in 1992. Tendulkar was already an established member of the Indian ODI side back then, while Ganguly was a newcomer. Ganguly couldn’t cement his place in the Indian squad in his first season and was dropped from the squad for a few years before he was eventually recalled in 1996-97 and he got the opportunity to open with Tendulkar.
Tendulkar and Ganguly started opening for India on 23rd January, 1997 and although there were occasions in between where their opening partners were changed and one of them had to move down the order, they opened the batting together for majority of the next 10 years.
Also see - India West Indies head to head
The duo batted together in a total of 176 innings scoring 8227 runs at an average of 47.55. They had 26 century and 29 half-century partnerships between them. The highest partnership that Tendulkar and Ganguly ever had was a 258-run stand against Kenya in 2001. It’s still the highest partnership by an Indian opening pair in ODIs. Tendulkar and Ganguly are the most successful batting pair of India in ODIs till date in terms of the total runs scored.