Partnerships are crucial in cricket, wherever possible, in a batting team’s innings. Especially in Test cricket, partnerships help a team build a substantial advantage over the opposition. In the format where the batters test the bowlers’ patience, a long partnership can greatly affect the fielding side’s morale.
India, the country known for producing world-class Test batters, has seen some phenomenal batting partnerships. Few have won the game for Team India, and few saved the side from facing a loss.
This article will list the highest Indian Test partnerships for each wicket, starting from the record opening partnership to the biggest 10th wicket partnership.
Highest Indian Partnerships for Each Wicket in Tests
| Wicket | Runs | Partners | Against | Venue | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Wicket | 413 | Vinoo Mankad & Pankaj Roy | New Zealand | Chennai | 1956 |
| 2nd Wicket | 370 | Cheteshwar Pujara & Murali Vijay | Australia | Hyderabad | 2013 |
| 3rd Wicket | 336 | Virender Sehwag & Sachin Tendulkar | Pakistan | Multan | 2004 |
| 4th Wicket | 365 | Virat Kohli & Ajinkya Rahane | New Zealand | Indore | 2016 |
| 5th Wicket | 376 | Rahul Dravid & VVS Laxman | Australia | Kolkata | 2001 |
| 6th Wicket | 298* | Ravi Shashtri & Dilip Vengsarkar | Australia | Wankhede | 1986 |
| 7th Wicket | 280 | Ravichandran Ashwin & Rohit Sharma | West Indies | Kolkata | 2013 |
| 8th Wicket | 241 | Virat Kohli & Jayant Yadav | England | Wankhede | 2016 |
| 9th Wicket | 149 | Ramakant Desai & Nana Joshi | Pakistan | Brabourne | 1960 |
| 10th Wicket | 133 | Sachin Tendulkar & Zaheer Khan | Bangladesh | Dhaka | 2004 |
Key Insights
India is the only team with two opening pairs scoring a 400-plus run partnership each in Test cricket.
The 413-run partnership between Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy is the highest for India and the second-highest by any pair for the first wicket in Tests. This is also the highest partnership for India in a Test win.
The opening pair of Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag aggregated India’s second 400+ partnership (410 vs Pakistan, Lahore) in Tests in 2006 and came close to beating the Mankad-Roy partnership record. Their 410-run stand is the highest for India in an away Test.
Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid have forged the most century partnerships in Tests, with 20 such stands between them. 18 of those stands came for the third wicket, the second-most by a pair in Tests.
The record eighth-wicket pair of Virat Kohli and Jayant Yadav batted together only once in Test cricket. Yadav smashed a 104-run knock in the same innings, the highest individual score by a No. 9 Indian batter in Test cricket.
There are two 10th-wicket partnerships of 100 or more runs that ended up in wins for India. The first one (109) came between Hemu Adhikari and Ghulam Ahmed against Pakistan in the 1952 Delhi Test. The other one (133) was between Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan against Bangladesh in the 2004 Dhaka Test, which is the highest partnership for the last wicket for India in Tests.
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