Most ODI Matches Played as a Pair
| Pair | Team | Matches Played Together | Runs Scored Combined | Wickets Taken Combined |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 376 | 23653 | 2 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya, Muttiah Muralitharan | Sri Lanka | 307 | 10962 | 702 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya, Chaminda Vaas | Sri Lanka | 304 | 12032 | 586 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan, Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 290 | 17104 | 102 |
| Tillakaratne Dilshan, Kumar Sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 285 | 20041 | 99 |
| Sanath Jayasuriya, Mahela Jayawardene | Sri Lanka | 273 | 16546 | 182 |
| Jacques Kallis, Shaun Pollock | South Africa | 259 | 11629 | 229 |
| Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly | India | 256 | 17427 | 90 |
| Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher | South Africa | 256 | 13558 | 233 |
| Muttiah Muralitharan, Chaminda Vaas | Sri Lanka | 252 | 2102 | 708 |
Key Insights on Prolific Cricketing Duos who Played Together Most Times in ODI Cricket
Sri Lankan Dominance in ODI Appearances as a Pair
The top six partnerships in terms of Most Matches Played Together in ODI history are all from Sri Lanka.
Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara lead the list with 376 matches played as a pair.
Sanath Jayasuriya features in four of the top seven pairs, playing 307 matches with Muttiah Muralitharan, 304 with Chaminda Vaas, and 273 with Mahela Jayawardene. The former Sri Lankan opener is also one of the four cricketers who has been part of 400+ ODI matches for their respective nation.
The highest-ranked non-Sri Lankan pair is Jacques Kallis and Shaun Pollock from South Africa with 259 matches.
The only Indian pair on the list from the retired era is Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly, who played 256 matches together.
Record-Breaking Combined Runs Scored and Active Pair Milestones
The pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara have scored the highest combined runs among the listed pairs, totaling 23,653.
The second-highest combined runs belong to Tillakaratne Dilshan and Kumar Sangakkara with 20,041 runs in 285 matches.
The Indian duo of Rahul Dravid and Sourav Ganguly scored 17,427 combined runs.
The current active pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have played 226 ODI matches together, making them the highest active ODI pair by appearances.
The same active pair of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma also holds the Indian record for most international matches together across all formats with 392* games, surpassing the Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid record of 391.
Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly hold the record for the most century partnerships in ODI history with 26.
Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are joint second on the list of most century stands, with 20. Find the top ten pairs with most 100 partnerships in ODI here.
Leading Overall Combined Wicket-Taking Partnerships
The pair of Chaminda Vaas and Muttiah Muralitharan have taken a high number of combined wickets with 708.
Muttiah Muralitharan and Sanath Jayasuriya are a close second in wickets, with 702 combined wickets.
Sanath Jayasuriya and Chaminda Vaas combined to take 586 wickets.
The pair of Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara, despite playing the most matches, took only 2 combined wickets.
You can find the top ten wicket-taking pairs in ODI cricket here.
