Top 5 batting pairs with most runs in Test cricket
In the world of cricket, everything remains uncertain until the very last ball of the game. One thing that can change the entire momentum of the match is a solid partnership. If a partnership has stood strong enough to turn the game in the respective team’s favour, players are identified as heroes from the very next moment. In the history of cricket, there have been great partnerships between players that have changed the mood of the game.
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman’s 376 run-stand at Eden Gardens is still regarded as a heavenly affair by the cricket fans around the world. In the same light, let’s see five batting pairs with the most number of runs in Tests.
5. Sir Alistair Cook and Sir Andrew Strauss
The legendary opening pair of Sir Alistair Cook and Sir Andrew Strauss is stated as an excellent one to have graced the English cricket. The two brilliant southpaws have opened for their side on 132 occasions and have together scored 5253 runs with an average of over 40.
The solid pair also has 14 100-run and 21 fifty-run partnerships for England in whites. Out of all the marvels they have put on the field, their 229-run stand against West Indies will be cherished by fans worldwide, forever.
4. Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer
Another amazing left-handed batting duo that we find in the list is of Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer. The two batsmen have opened the innings for Australia 122 times and have stitched 6081 runs as a pair. To talk of the pair, they have an average of over 51.53 in Test cricket.
They also have the credit of decorating their innings by 14 century partnerships and 28 fifty-run stands. The duo will always be remembered for building a 255-run partnership only to break the back of Sri Lankan bowlers in 2004.
3. Sir Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes
The bowlers of the world remained in fear of the sight of these two Caribbean batsmen. The destructive pair of Sir Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes graced the West Indies cricket by opening on 148 occasions and shared 6482 runs as a pair. The terrific duo also shared 16 century partnerships between them.
The memorable innings came from their bats in the year 1990 when they built a massive 298-run partnership for the first wicket against the English team. Their thunderous innings gifted their team a victory by an innings and 32 runs.
2. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene
If one talks of Lankan cricket, the name of these two legendary batsmen can never slip off their tongue. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene stunned the cricketing world with the willow in their hands. The duo has played 120 innings together and shared a huge 6554 runs between them.
Their average stands at 56.50 while having 19 partnerships of 100+ runs, and 27 half-century stands between them. They wreaked havoc on South Africans while they stitched a gigantic 624-run stand between them and ripped apart each and every strategy of the opponents.
1. Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid
If a pair had to top this list, there couldn’t have been a better combination than the wall and God of cricket himself. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar gave bowlers a tough time for around 15 years together. Two Indian icons batted for 143 innings together and shared a massive 6920 runs between them. Averaging over 50, they shared as many as 20 century partnerships.
The highest partnership between them stood at 249 runs in the year 2000 and left the Zimbabwe bowlers absolutely clueless. Tendulkar, till-date is the highest run-getter in the history of Tests.
