Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly
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.