5 batting pairs who had a poor understanding of running between the wickets

Batting pairs who are historically poor in running between the wickets make for an interesting read because it does not necessarily reflect upon their cricketing talent. It is mostly a failure to communicate, the consequences of which are sometimes historical, sometimes heartbreaking but almost always comical.

A statistical deep dive into these pairings is bound to throw up a few usual suspects, but there might be a few pairings that will surprise you.

On that note, let us try to find out the five batting pairs who had a poor understanding of running between the wickets. Note: The list is in no particular order.

1. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma

Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are two of the modern-day greats of the game. The duo plays together in the Indian top order.

While one of them is a supreme athlete, the other pretty much impersonates the term 'lazy elegance'. Together their batting has carved out mountains of runs for the team.

All of this might have people questioning this claim of them running poorly between the wickets when in the company of each other. But statistically, there was a period between 2011 and 2018 during which they’d been involved in seven run-outs while batting together. That is miscommunication almost worthy of a record of sorts, but not quite.

2. Sanath Jayasuriya & Romesh Kaluwitharna

Sanath Jayasuriya and Romesh Kaluwitharna of Sri Lanka are often credited with revolutionising the opener's role in one-day cricket. Their belligerent batting has earned the island nation many a victory.

However, what is often overlooked is their miserable record when running between the wickets. Thirteen is considered an unlucky number in many circumstances, but nowhere is it more appropriate than in the case of this batting pair.

These two giants of the game often found themselves a few strides short of safety when batting together; well, thirteen times to be exact.

3. Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan

Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan are two of the biggest batting stalwarts in Sri Lankan cricket.

These two men usually earned rave reviews for their athleticism and speed while running between the wickets. The two batted with each other innumerable times and struck gold more often than not, except on eight occasions.

In the overall scheme of things, eight might be an insignificant number. However, for this article, eight run-outs make this batting pair one of the leading ones in modern-day cricket to have suffered the ignominy of a run-out.

4. Faf Du Plessis and AB De Villers

Faf Du Plessis and AB De Villiers is a Proteas batting pair whom you would usually associate with batting and athletic exploits galore. But the duo managed to accumulate eight run-outs between them while batting together.

Their eight run-outs edges them ahead of Sharma and Kohli in the list of most run-outs between a pair, However, it doesn’t quite place the South African duo on the top of the mountain, or should we say, the bottom of the abyss.

5. Arjuna Ranatunga & Arvinda De Silva

Thirteen might seem to be a significant number as far as the theme of this article goes. But there is one more pair who have been run out on more occasions when batting together.

The pair of Arjuna Ranatunga and Aravinda De Silva, legends in their own rights, helped Sri Lanka evolve from minnows to world-beaters.

Ranatunga and De Silva scored heaps of runs in each other’s company. But the pair also had their fair share of miscommunication that resulted in as many as 14 run-outs.

It is the most number of run-outs between a batting pair in international cricket.