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. The historically infamous pairing of VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid against Australia in the second innings of the Kolkata Test in 2001 saved India from a disastrous loss and helped them clinch a famous victory.
You can find where the Laxman-Dravid pair stands in the the top 5 highest Indian partnerships in Test cricket here.
This article, on the other hand, will list the highest Indian Test partnerships for each wicket, starting from the record opening partnership to the biggest 10th wicket partnership for India.
Highest Indian Partnership for each wicket in Tests
| WICKET | RUNS | PARTNERS | OPPONENT | 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 Stats
The Rahul Dravid – Virender Sehwag opening pair in 2006 scored India’s second 400+ partnership in Test and came close to beating the Mankad-Roy partnership record.
Sachin Tendulkar – Rahul Dravid, the India pair with the most 100 partnerships in Test, doesn’t hold any place in the above list. The pair’s highest together is 249, which they scored against Zimbabwe for the 3rd wicket.
The highest Indian partnerships for the 3rd and 10th wicket came at non-Indian venues – Multan and Dhaka, respectively.
Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli are the only players to feature two of the above record partnerships.
The record 8th wicket pair of Virat Kohli and Jayant Yadav have batted together only once in Test cricket.
Also, India never lost in any of the above partnerships-involved Test matches.
Related: Which batting pair has scored the most runs together in ODI cricket?
