India vs South Africa 2019, 1st Test: Where the opening stand between Rohit and Mayank Agarwal is placed in the record books
On what proved out to be a sweet homecoming for Rohit Sharma, India started the series with a bang. The star limited-overs opener, along with Mayank Agarwal, shared a 317 run-opening stand against South Africa in the first match of the Freedom Trophy.
The duo treated the fast bowlers with disdain and played out the spinners with ease to notch up a huge partnership and start their new journey at the top of the order together in style. Sharma got out to Keshav Maharaj on an individual score of 176 after hitting six sixes and 23 fours in his 244-ball knock.
Courtesy of their fine alliance, Sharma and Agarwal found themselves featuring in the list of the highest opening partnerships in Test match cricket, as they occupied the 12th spot in the list with their 317-run effort.
Not long ago, in the second Test match between South Africa and Bangladesh at Chattogram in 2008, batsmen made scoring look simple and broke records. Graeme Smith captained the Proteas side for the record 54th time, eclipsing Hansie Cronje’s record of 53 Tests as captain. And Smith knew exactly how to make it special, scoring a majestic 232. He was supported superbly from the other end by Neil McKenzie, who went to score a double ton himself.
Their combined effort helped them set a record opening stand of 415 runs, beating the previous best of 413 by Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in Chennai in 1956. An astonishing day of play saw 405 runs being scored with no success to bowlers. Graeme Smith was particularly harsh on the bowlers as he scored at a strike-rate of over 80 that included 33 fours.
This incredible feat of the openers saw South Africa overwhelm Bangladesh by an innings and 205 runs.
In terms of cricket, the year 1956 started with a bang for India. On January 6th, the hosts entered the fifth and final Test with a 1-0 lead against the Black Caps. Looking at the bowling form of the visitors, the record was always up for the taking. Team scores of 498 for four declared, 421 for eight declared, 531 for seven declared and 438 for seven declared had been the order of the series and the visitors couldn’t wait for the dreadful series to end.
The first day saw Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy remain unbeaten till the close of play, the first instance of an Indian opening pair accomplishing the feat. It wasn’t long before the teammates and others present in the ground understood how big that achievement was. Soon the Indian pair broke the 359-run opening partnership record held by Len Hutton and Cyril Washbrook made against South Africa at Johannesburg in 1948-49. Mankad scored 231 while Pankaj Roy made 173 runs. They added 413 runs together.
India won the match by an innings and 109 runs.
Exactly 50 years later, India’s tour of Pakistan in 2006 saw batting-friendly pitches and some absolutely dead rubbers. One of them was the game at Lahore in the second week of January. Captain Inzamam-ul-Haq won the toss and elected to bat first. The innings saw four hundreds and a half-century being scored, with Younis Khan getting run-out at 199 by Harbhajan. But hardly were the spectators aware of what was to follow. Openers Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid timed the ball impeccably, finding gaps at will they shared a record-shattering partnership of 410 to put the final nail in the coffin of what was an unbalance clash between bat and ball.
The match ended in a draw.
A cricketing super power, West Indies hosted New Zealand for a Test series. Glenn Turner and Terry Jarvis provided New Zealand with a record opening stand of 387 runs in the fourth Test against a strong West Indies team at Georgetown. Turner scored a mammoth 259 runs while Jarvis made 182 runs. Many rate this partnership at the highest pedestal simply because of the opposition it was scored against the likes of Sir Garry Sobers and Vanburn Holder. A strong West Indies side captained by Sir Garry Sobers, declared their first innings at 365 for seven in the first innings. In reply, Turner and Jarvis added 22 more runs that the West Indies team-total for the first wicket themselves, ending the match in a draw.
In an amazing display of batsmanship, the fourth Test between Australia and West Indies at Bridgetown saw a total of three double-hundreds being scored. Australian captain Bob Simpson and Bill Lawry didn’t spare the Carribean bowlers as they notched up an opening-stand of 382 and help them score 650 runs in the first innings.
Charlie Griffith and Sir Garry Sobers had no answers to the Australia stroke-play. Lance Gibbs had to carry the maximum load as he went on to bowl 73 overs. West Indian Seymour Nurse was impressive in his 201-run knock but the Australian openers had already done major damage.
The match ended in a draw as they went into the fifth match, with WI leading 2-0.
The current Indian Pair have made a strong start to their partnership. With KL Rahul out of form and Prithvi Shaw yet to return from his ban, Mayank and Rohit are the way to go for the team management as far as Test cricket is concerned.
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