Biggest partnerships in T20 World Cup
Forming a big and crucial partnership in T20 cricket is one of the toughest jobs, and more important in big tournaments like ICC World Cup. In a 20-over game, there is very little time to settle and then to start building big partnerships. Let’s take a look at the top-three biggest partnerships in T20 World Cup history ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup 2022.
- Alex Hales & Eoin Morgan (152 runs, 2014)
England endured a very poor showing in the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh with just one win from four group-stage matches. That win came against Sri Lanka in Group 1 fixture and credit was due to the big partnership between Alex Hales and Eoin Morgan. While chasing a big 190-run target, England lost Michael Lump and Eoin Morgan on ducks but Hales and Morgan put a remarkable 152-run partnership for the third wicket, the second-biggest partnership for any wicket in the tournament’s history. Morgan scored 57 runs off 38 balls before getting out in the 17th over and Hales remained unbeaten on 116 runs off 64 balls to guide England to a six-wicket win with four balls remaining.
- Babar Azam & Mohammad Rizwan (152* runs, 2021)
Pakistan created history on October 24 when they beat India first time in any ICC tournament at the T20 World Cup 2021 in UAE. Star pacer Shaheen Afridi put an excellent spell to restrict India on 151/7 while bowling first in a group-stage fixture. India were still the favorites to defend the target with Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, and Mohammed Shami available in their pace attack. But in-form openers Babar Azam and Mohammed Rizwan formed an unbeaten partnership of 152 runs for the first wicket and guided Pakistan to a historic 10-wicket win with 13 balls remaining. Babar scored 68 runs off 52 balls and Rizwan smashed 79 runs off just 55 balls to register a second joint-highest partnership for any wicket in the T20 World Cup history.
- Mahela Jayawardene & Kumar Sangakkara (166 runs, 2010)
Sri Lanka registered a big win against West Indies in their first group-stage match in the 2010. Sri Lanka lost their veteran opener Sanath Jayasuriya early but managed to score a big 195/3 total while batting first. Star batters Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara proved too strong for the West Indies bowling attack and put a record-breaking 166-run partnership for the second wicket. They broke the biggest partnership record, 145-run, in T20 World Cup history set by West Indies’ Chris Gayle and Dwayne Smith in 2007.
