Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, India, 2019 World Cup
Sourav Ganguly quashes the media reports. Photo Credit: Getty Images.
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The role of Opening Pair of a team is to give a good start. In ODI cricket the stability of innings will be based on the way their openers start the proceedings. There are some openers in ODI format who are the ideal for all the opening pairs. They contribution, dedication and co-ordination are the notable features in Openers.

In the 1990s, batting in one-day cricket was revolutionised with the emergence of attacking openers. While Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharane kept on attacking from both ends, Sachin Tendulkar and Adam Gilchrist too used the fielding restrictions to his advantage to play his part in changing the modern game. Tendulkar found the ideal partners in Sourav Ganguly and later Virender Sehwag to take on the opposition.

With neither of Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Adam Gilchrist, Sanath Jayasurya or Virender Sehwag who changed the face of ODI and the opening batting, aren’t in the ODI format at the moment, here we bring you the list of top five opening pairs in ODI cricket.

10. HH Gibbs, GC Smith (South Africa):

Herschelle-Gibbs

South Africa was blessed with two amazing batmen opening for them. Gibbs, who can turn the match’s state on his day and Smith who can play sensibly and reform the innings together opened for South Africa. They gave great starts in their period and helped in South Africans triumphs. They both opened in 74 innings and contributed 3007 runs at an average of 41.19 which included 8 Century and 13 Half-Century partnerships with a best of 174.

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Sampath Bandarupalli

Cricket Statistician and Journalist. Love to churn out facts and stats. Member of the Society of Cricket Statisticians of India (SCSI).

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