5 Last Century Opening Partnerships outside Asia for India
A job well begun is a job half done. A major reason behind India's struggles outside Asia in cricket for the past decade or so have been the failure of the openers to get the team off to a good start. A solid opening partnership not only wears out the bowlers but also takes care of the shine on the ball, thus reducing its ability to swing. This, in turn, ends up making life easier for the middle order and paving ways for big totals.
However, in the last 66 Test Match innings outside Asia, India have lost a wicket before a run has been scored on 7 occasions, had a partnership of 50 or more 6 times, and never had a partnership of 100 or more!
So, when was the last time they had an opening partnership of 100 or more outside Asia? Here are the latest 5 (most recent last) such instances:
#5 Jaffer-Sehwag: 159 v West Indies, 2006
With Wasim Jaffer watching from the best seat in the house, Viru laid into the Windies attack. The 100 of the partnership came up in the 17th over, with Sehwag scoring 82 of the runs and Jaffer 12. By the time the lunch break came around, Sehwag was on 99, one short of becoming only the fifth batsman to score a Test Century before Lunch on Day 1; he even almost ran himself out of the last ball of the session in an attempt to get there!
When Jaffer finally nicked one to the slip cordon in the 30th over, he had 43, Sehwag 109, and India 159. Centuries from Dravid and Kaif took India to 588/8, but a defiant Brian Lara century in the second innings saw the West Indies to safety on the last day of the Test.
#4 Jaffer-Sehwag 109 v West Indies, 2006
In the very next Test, West Indies repaid India in kind, winning the toss, opting to bat first, and piling on a score in excess of 580. A Laxman hundred in the first innings kept India afloat, barely. Set 392 to win, but more importantly, almost the whole of day 5 to survive, Jaffer and Sehwag gave a strong start to push India's case for a draw.
Sehwag, after starting slowly, by his standards, soon got into his usual brisk mood - whipping, cutting, and slashing his way to the lunch break. While Sehwag was his usual self, so was Jaffer, complementing the Nawab of Najafgarh, with a slow, but steady innings of his own, keeping the home bowlers at bay. Sehwag fell the first ball after lunch, leg before wicket to Corey Collymore, but by then he had more than put India on the path to a draw.