Top 5 Cricketing Pairs Who Had Amazing Understanding Between Them

Jul 29, 2020 at 11:39 AM

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Top 5 Cricketing Pairs Who Had Amazing Understanding Between Them

Top 5 Cricketing Pairs Who Had Amazing Understanding Between Them. Cricket is obviously a game of partnerships, be it batting or of bowling. Some batsmen have to endure the toughest conditions and the dangerous bowlers to make things easier for the rest. Meanwhile, some bowlers like to hunt in pairs, one keeping an end quiet and creating pressure for his partner to benefit and the other taking wickets in regular interval.

Over the decades, there have been some amazing batting and bowling pairs who almost had a telepathic understanding when fighting the 22-yard battle shoulder to shoulder. These pairs in turn persistently formed a great shield or a potent force which helped the cause of their team.

Such pairs excelled due to the support they received from the other end and things were rarely ever the same once the partnership was broken.

Here we look at 5 such pairs who achieved great heights together.

Top 5 Cricketing Pairs Who Had Amazing Understanding Between Them

Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh

Top 5 Cricketing Pairs Who Had Amazing Understanding Between Them

 

The tall, hit-the-deck bowlers enjoyed terrorizing batsmen during the late 80s and early 90s. Capable of generating lethal bouncer courtesy their height, the two fast bowlers were largely creditable to guide West Indies come up with a substantial fight even after their glory days.

Their amazing partnership brought 762 wickets 203 more than the next pair of Wasim and Waqar, with Ambrose claiming 389 of those and Walsh taking 373, with a deadly average of 22.67. They were also holding another record of being the second-best new ball pair of all-time behind Akram and Waqar with 412 wickets at 22.10.

Walsh this time takes the majority with 226 of those wickets. The pair had 15 wicket Tests too like in Trinidad in 1994, with England the usual victim of their intimidating bowling not lacking for skill at all.

Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis

Akram and Waqar is legendary by numbers alone – 559 wickets in 61 Tests at an outstanding average of 22.12 and strike-rate of 45.65 despite bowling on some of the flattest and most unfriendly wickets for fast bowlers in the sub-continent.

However, numbers won’t be able to tell whole the story of this great partnership. The Sultans of Swing actually changed the art of fast bowling, sharing their spoils almost equally, Akram with 282 wickets and Waqar with 277. The exact use of reverse swing could make the ball talk at searing pace, working in tandem on the ball, with the help of the shine and rough surface.

Waqar used to intimidate the batsmen with his famous in-dipping yorkers and toe-crushers with a magical banana swing. Akram used to ran in with his left-arm, skiddy action and nipped them out with full-length deliveries which moved in and out viciously. Neither of them gave anything away and almost always looked like two violinists mesmerizing with their symphony without a spoken word, matching each other note for note.

Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene

 

Bolstered with the record for the greatest Test partnership of 624 against South Africa, Sangakkara and Jayawardene are regarded as the Jai-Veeru of Test cricket; they are inseparable friends on and off the field. The two giant pillars of Sri Lankan golden era, Mahela and Sanga remain second on the list of most partnership runs both in Test cricket and ODI cricket.

With 6554 runs at 56.50, they were like born to play together. Both equally elegant, using the left-right combination to great effect and running beautifully between the wickets having a great understanding, Mahela and Sanga used to strategize beautifully in the middle and were actually the architects of many great Sri Lankan victories.

Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden

 

The opening duo of Australia’s invincible team in the nineties was one of cricket’s most destructive pairs. On their day, which was on most days, they went out to perform their jobs with ruthlessness rarely seen on the cricket field. Both aggressive left-handers, Gilchrist and Hayden never meant to deal in half-measures and went all out against any bowling attack.

5372 runs in 114 innings, put them at the top half on the list of highest partnership runs. 16-century partnerships, 29 half-century partnerships and a breathtaking average of over 48 at almost run a ball, hold testimony to how successful this batting pair was.

More importantly, they were phenomenal at the World Cups too, especially in 2003. The phenomenal duo had a 50+ average away from home, making them a high-quality opening pair anywhere in the world. Like Sachin Tendulkar who formed productive partnerships with both Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, Gilchrist too had partnered very successfully with two batsmen in Mark Waugh and Hayden.
Hayden and Gilchrist featured in 87 Australian victories, in which they garnered 15-century partnerships at the top.

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly

Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Image Credit: Getty Images.

There are plenty of records that were set by the famous opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly, one of the most feared openers of all time in ODIs. Over 11 years, the left-right pair scored 6609 runs in 136 innings, with the highest being 258 runs, the 4th highest opening partnership of all time. They have also put on 23 half-century partnerships and 21-century partnerships, the highest by a fair distance, the next best is 16.

That is not all. Their partnership average of 49.32 is the second-highest average for any opening pair that has scored more than 2000 runs together. Moreover, the pair of Tendulkar and Ganguly are amongst the few pairs who have done well both at home and away – 4697 away from home in 100 innings, most by any pair and more than 1900 runs at home, 3rd highest on the list.

They also hold the record for most opening partnership runs in victories, 65 out of 136, averaging 67.95 exceeding even the legendary pair of Haynes and Greenidge. As if the runs weren’t enough to prove their authority, another argument that goes in their favour is that unlike their nearest rival pairs on this list, they had to face the most feared bowling combinations of their era, something Gilchrist-Hayden and Haynes-Greenidge pairs benefited from.

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