One of the most important aspects for any team in cricket is their top-order batting, particularly the opening batsmen. The performance of the top-2 batters more or less sets the tone for the rest of the batting line-up. If the start provided by the openers is good, it gives more often than not gives a sigh of relief to the entire team for the rest of their batting duration.
Likewise, the role of the opening batsmen becomes even more crucial in the shortest format of the game, T20 cricket. There isn’t much time or deliveries to get oneself set and the main objective of the openers is to capitalize on the 1st 6 overs of the batting innings which are called the powerplays. The teams that maximize the powerplay overs are likely to have a dominant opening pair.
Even the recently concluded T20 World Cup in UAE stressed the importance of a solid opening partnership.
We will look at the Top 10 opening partnerships in T20 Internationals in this article.
Highest Opening Partnerships in T20I
| PAIR | OPENING PARTNERSHIP | TEAM | VS | VENUE | YEAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| L Yamamoto-Lake, K Kadowaki-Fleming | 258* | Japan | China | Mong Kok | 2024 |
| Usman Ghani, Hazratullah Zazai | 236 | Afghanistan | Ireland | Dehradun | 2019 |
| DJM Short, AJ Finch | 223 | Australia | Zimbabwe | Harare | 2018 |
| Dylan Steyn, S Davizi | 220 | Czech Rep. | Bulgaria | Marsa | 2022 |
| BA Pai, L Bruce | 213* | Gibraltar | Bulgaria | Marsa | 2022 |
| Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam | 203* | Pakistan | England | Karachi | 2022 |
| HG Munsey, KJ Coetzer | 200 | Scotland | Netherlands | Dublin (Malahide) | 2019 |
| Mohammad Rizwan, Babar Azam | 197 | Pakistan | South Africa | Centurion | 2021 |
| T Manders, KS Leverock | 179 | Bermuda | Panama | Buenos Aires | 2023 |
| BA Pai, L Bruce | 172* | Gibraltar | Bulgaria | Marsa | 2021 |
Key highlights from the above stats
Hazratullah Zazai and Usman Ghani stitched together a massive 236 run stand for the opening wicket(the highest in T20 internationals) and Afghanistan eventually posted 278/3 in their 20 overs against Ireland. This is also the joint highest score by any team in T20Is.
The pair of Mohammad Rizwan and Babar Azam of Pakistan 2 of 3 players to be involved in 4 150-run plus opening stand in T20 internationals. Rohit Sharma is the only other player to have this distinction. Interestingly 3 of Rizwan-Babar’s 150 plus stands came in the year 2021.
The opening pair of South Africa’s Loots Bosman and Graeme Smith was the first pair to post over 150 for any wicket in T20 internationals. They did so in a winning cause against England at Centurion in 2009.
Marsa, the venue in Malta gets featured thrice in the list – the highest among the international venues.
Aaron Finch and D’Arcy Short scored 223 for the opening wicket against Zimbabwe at Harare. This is the same match where Aaron Finch, the Australian skipper made a scintillating 172 off just 76 balls, This remains the highest individual T20I score and 2nd highest in all of T20 cricket.
