5 batsmen who became famous thanks to their opening partners

Cricket is a team sport and it generally requires a good effort from more than one individual to pull off a victory. This is a logic which applies to all three departments of the game – batting, bowling and fielding. When it comes to batting, it is necessary for the best players in the team to receive support from other batsmen so that they can accomplish the task they have at hand.

Many of the finest ODI batsmen in the history of the game have opened the batting for their respective teams. While some of their opening partners had a reputation of their own, a few became more popular because of being associated with them. Players belonging to the latter variety did not achieve too much individual success in their ODI careers but flourished when batting alongside their prolific partners.

Let’s take a look at 5 batsmen who gained popularity because of their opening partners in ODI cricket:

5. Andrew Hudson (South Africa)

Opening Partner: Gary Kirsten

A right-handed opening batsman by trade, Andrew Hudson made his international debut more than 2 years before his far more prolific opening partner, Gary Kirsten. Hudson scored more than 2500 ODI runs at an average of nearly 30 and had a highest ODI score of 161 against Netherlands in the 1996 World Cup. He and Kirsten began opening the South African ODI innings in December 1993 and registered a blob in their first outing together.

Despite having an inauspicious start, the duo got their act together and played a crucial role in their team’s success through the mid-1990s. In 39 innings as an opening pair, the Kirsten-Hudson combine scored over 1500 runs, which included 4 century partnerships and 8 stands in excess of 50. However, more often than not, it was the future Indian coach who got the big runs for South Africa after his partner’s dismissal.

4. Upul Tharanga (Sri Lanka)

Tharanga’s career has not gone as per expectations

Opening Partner: Tillakaratne Dilshan

Upul Tharanga may have scored more than 5000 runs in ODI cricket and hit as many as 13 centuries but his career so far has not reached the heights that it should have. He is still known best for his successful opening combination with his iconic countryman, Tillakaratne Dilshan, which brought about quite a lot of success for Sri Lanka. In fact, they are among the top 10 opening pairs in ODI cricket in terms of runs scored.

Between the years 2009 and 2014, Dilshan and Tharanga scored 3159 runs as partners and averaged more than 45 runs per innings. Their opening partnership of 282 runs against Zimbabwe in the 2011 World Cup is the second highest ever in ODIs. However, there is a huge gap between Upul Tharanga and Tillakaratne Dilshan in terms of their stature as individual batsmen, which the former can reduce only if he gets enough chances to capitalize upon.

3. Wavell Hinds (West Indies)

Wavell Hinds had a pretty average career as a batsman

Opening Partner: Chris Gayle

Left-hander Wavell Hinds had a moderately successful career as a batsman for the West Indies. In a career which lasted 11 years, Hinds played 45 Tests and more than 100 ODI matches and scored over 2000 runs in both formats. However, he will be remembered best for the prolific opening pair that he formed with the explosive Chris Gayle in one-day international cricket.

Gayle and Hinds batted together at the top of the order for 41 games and managed to add 1687 runs, which included 4 stands of over 100 runs and 5 fifty-plus ones. Their highest partnership was the 192 that they made against Bangladesh in the 2004 Champions Trophy. Needless to say, it was Wavell Hinds who played the support role on most occasions as the Jamaican giant went about his business.

2. Aamer Sohail (Pakistan)

Aamer Sohail represented Pakistan throughout the 1990s

Opening Partner: Saeed Anwar

Aamer Sohail is a left-handed batsman who represented Pakistan in 47 Tests and 156 ODIs between the years 1990 and 2000. Apart from his memorable spat with Indian bowler Venkatesh Prasad in the 1996 World Cup, Sohail is remembered most fondly for his highly consistent opening combination with the mercurial Saeed Anwar. Together, they have been the most successful ODI pair at the top of the order for their country.

In the 73 innings that they played, Anwar and Sohail scored close to 3000 runs at an average of nearly 40. Other than 3 century stands, the duo had as many as 20 partnerships in excess of fifty runs. While Saeed Anwar went on to acquire the status of a Pakistani great by the time he retired, Aamer Sohail was unable to achieve similar levels of success as a batsman.

1. Romesh Kaluwitharana (Sri Lanka)

Romesh Kaluwitharana played a key role in Sri Lanka’s 1996 World Cup success

Opening Partner: Sanath Jayasuriya

A World Cup winner with Sri Lanka in 1996, wicket-keeper batsman Romesh Kaluwitharana had quite an extended international career for his country. He played 189 ODI matches in which he scored 3711 runs at an average of just over 22 with 2 centuries. The diminutive cricketer’s biggest claim to fame is his swashbuckling opening pair with the legendary Sanath Jayasuriya.

Kaluwitharana and Jayasuriya started to open the innings for Sri Lanka just a couple of months before the 1996 World Cup and their early success prompted skipper Arjuna Ranatunga to use their combination in the tournament. The move clicked as the two of them provided some blistering starts to the Sri Lankans which helped them use the fielding restrictions to the fullest.

The pair of Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharana scored 3230 runs in 105 innings and shared 6 partnerships of over 100 in ODI cricket. The former went on to become an iconic figure in Sri Lankan cricket whereas Kaluwitharana’s career was unable to live up to its initial promise.