5 pairs of Indian cricketers who have been roommates

The life of a cricketer can be a pretty lonely one at times and frequent travelling is one of the key factors to this particular state of affairs. However, bonds of great friendship are formed among cricketers who are roommates and over the years, Indian cricket has seen plenty of such friendships flourishing. Sometimes, some cricketers have been roommates right from the time when they were school cricketers and found themselves sharing a room once again when they donned the India colours.

Over the course of Indian cricket, there have been plenty of famous pairs who have shared rooms regularly and forget great friendships in the process. Here is a look at 5 of them.

5 Sadagopan Ramesh and VVS Laxman

Former Indian opening batsman Sadagopan Ramesh, who opened for India in Test matches between 1999 and 2003, had often been room-mates with VVS Laxman during their international career. Most notably, the pair were room-mates during the memorable home series against Australia in 2001 and Ramesh only has good memories of the time spent with Laxman, although their personalities were quite contrasting.

Ramesh told Mint, “Laxman and I had a great time though we are completely different personalities. He would eat, drink, breathe, live cricket; I am a man with very little patience. I can’t watch cricket if I am not batting.

Or fielding. I just can’t sit still and watch ball after ball, session after session. So it is safe to say that we didn’t discuss cricket as much when Laxman and I were roomies. But we had common tastes in music and stuff, so there was lots to talk about and share.”

4 Dilip Sardesai and Salim Durani

Dilip Sardesai was one of India's leading batsmen in the 1960s and early 1970s and is fondly remembered for having played a key part in India's historic triumph in the West Indies back in 1971.

His room-mate during that tour was all-rounder Salim Durani, who was famous for his ability to hit big sixes. During that tour, Sardesai played a prank on Durani by posing as an ardent fan and asked the all-rounder to come down to the hotel lobby.

Durani found no one waiting for him, so he went back to his room and after a while, the said 'fan' called him again. Durani obliged only to discover that it was Sardesai playing a prank on him. It is perhaps one of the humorous stories related to room-mates in Indian cricket.

3 Kapil Dev and Kirti Azad

Kapil Dev is, without a doubt, among the greatest cricketers that India has ever produced and the great all-rounder forged a great friendship with another all-rounder during the initial years of his career.

A few years after Kapil's debut, Kirti Azad was selected for India's tour to Australia in 1980-81 and the two all-rounders were room-mates during that tour. In the book, Kapil Dev Triumph of the Spirit, Azad states, 'Kapil and I have been very, very close friends. We really go to know each other well on the five-month tour of Australia in 1980-81.

We were room-mates. We hit it off from day one and have never looked back since.' Although Azad did not play many games for India, he played a pivotal role for India in the 1983 World Cup semi-final, when he got Ian Botham cheaply and had a little hand to play in one of Kapil Dev's finest hours as captain.

2 Sunil Gavaskar and Gundappa Vishwanath

Two of the finest batsmen that India ever produced may not have played together for their domestic teams while they were coming up the ranks but since Gavaskar's first series in 1971, Gundappa Vishwanath became one of his closest friends in cricket.

When Gavaskar debuted for India in the West Indies back in 1971, his roommate at the team hotel throughout the tour was Gundappa Vishwanath and the two developed an excellent friendship right from that time.

Gavaskar's stellar show in the series cemented his place in the side for the next 16 years as he went on to become one of Indias greatest ever batsmen and it was also the start of a long-term friendship with another great Indian batsman, Vishwanath. Later on, Vishwanath married Gavaskar's sister, and the two became brothers-in-law.

1 Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly

The two batsmen formed one of the best opening partnerships in the one-day cricket history and perhaps one of the big reasons behind their sound understanding was the fact that they had been room-mates even as teenagers. For instance, they had both joined the MRF Pace Academy when young and at the time, Sourav Ganguly was Sachin Tendulkar's room-mate. Years later, he said that Tendulkar sleepwalks during the night. However, at the launch of Tendulkar's autobiography back in 2014, Ganguly revealed that the master used to shadow practice while his room-mate tried to sleep. During the interaction, he said, “Sachin used to practice at 2.30 in the night. How could one sleep with all lights on?”