If a cricket team's best tango pair is at the top - the opening batsmen, even better.
Sachin Tendulkar - Right hand mumbai maestro.
Sourav Ganguly - Left hand Bangal tiger.
Team : India
Innings : 176 (136 times opening) and counting!
Total runs : 6609
Average : 49.32/innings when they open together.
Century stands : 26 times over 100 and 29 times over 50 runs for the first wicket.
Note : 40 other times when Sachin-Sourav have batted together, but not as opening pair - aggregates 1668 runs. So, total runs made between these openers is 8277 with an average of almost 48!
Man of the match : 62 awards to Sachin Tendulkar and 31 for Sourav Ganguly .
Highest : 258 (vs Kenya), 252 (vs SL), 244 (vs Namibia), 197 (vs Zimbabwe), 193 (vs South Africa), 175 (vs Australia).. thrice these two have won the match without being separated!
The first : time Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly opened for India, was at Bloemfontein - 23rd January 1997.. Sachin was himself the captain, and Ganguly was chosen as his partner because he batted lefthanded! Sachin made 0 that day-night match against South Africa, but Ganguly went on to impress with 40 off 64, and rest is history!
An adjustment : was made between Sachin-Sourav opening partnership cause Sourav Ganguly didn't believed in fast singles. Tendulkar did. Ganguly was guilty of eating up the over while in-form Tendulkar waited at the non-strikers end.. Thankfully, only 9 runouts have occurred between this best opening pair of one day International cricket.
The gift : of both Sachin & sourav was their hunger for centuries. 49 One day centuries for Tendulkar & 22 one day centuries for Ganguly proves that an opener must know how to carry his bat through the innings & not throw his wicket for half-centuries!
Sehwag factor : The right hander from Delhi forced his way into Openers slot for India, specially for his ability to smash boundaries during powerplays. Sometimes Sourav will move down the order, sometimes Sachin batted at number 3. In all, Sehwag opened 78 times with Tendulkar, 65 times with Sourav. Averaged 38 and 42 respectively.
