Opening partnerships are always the backbone of any team’s success, especially as the format gets longer. In ODIs, it is highly important for a team to have settled openers who can give them a solid platform more often than not. The key characteristic is their ability to play along and support one another.
The Indian team has always been blessed with strong openers, generation after generation, and even a stop-gap opener has given them success in this format. We will list down the top 10 opening stands for India in ODI cricket.
| Players | Runs | Against | Venue | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly | 258 | Kenya | Paarl | 24 Oct 2001 |
| Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly | 252 | Sri Lanka | Colombo | 7 Jul 1998 |
| Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane | 231 | Sri Lanka | Cuttack | 2 Nov 2014 |
| Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul | 227 | West Indies | Visakhapatnam | 18 Dec 2019 |
| Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma | 212 | New Zealand | Indore | 24 Jan 2023 |
| Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan | 210 | Pakistan | Dubai | 23 Sep 2018 |
| Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir | 201* | New Zealand | Hamilton | 11 Mar 2009 |
| Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly | 197* | Zimbabwe | Sharjah | 13 Nov 1998 |
| Sourav Ganguly, Virender Sehwag | 196 | West Indies | Rajkot | 12 Nov 2002 |
| Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly | 193 | South Africa | Johannesburg | 5 Oct 2001 |
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly have recorded the highest opening partnership for India in ODIs, aggregating 258 runs against Kenya in 2001. Both scored their individual centuries (111 & 146), making it the third instance of the duo hammering hundreds in the same ODI innings.
The 258-run stand between Tendulkar and Ganguly is the fifth-highest for any wicket for India in ODIs.
Tendulkar and Ganguly are one of the two pairs to forge two 250-plus run partnerships for the first wicket in ODIs. Australia’s David Warner and Travis Head are the other pair to do it twice.
The Indian pair stitched 10 150-plus run partnerships, the most by an opening pair in ODIs. Tendulkar and Ganguly even had 21 century stands together, again the most for the first wicket in ODIs. They also scored 6609 partnership runs in tandem, the most for the first wicket.
Overall, Tendulkar featured in 40 stands of 100 or more runs for the first wicket with four partners, the most for India.
The 210-run partnership between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma against Pakistan in 2018 is the highest by an Indian opening pair in the ODI Asia Cup. This is the second-highest opening partnership by a pair in the ODI Asia Cup.
Sharma and KL Rahul have stitched the highest opening partnership for India in the ODI World Cup, scoring 189 runs against Sri Lanka in 2019. Overall, Sharma featured in four partnerships of 150 or more runs for the first wicket in the 50-over event.
Ganguly and Virender Sehwag have forged the highest first wicket partnership for India in the Champions Trophy, aggregating 192 runs against England in 2002.
Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir recorded the highest run rate for an opening partnership for India, going at 8.75 during their 127-run stand against Hong Kong in 2008 (minimum 100 runs).
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