Stats: India's highest partnership for each wicket in Tests

It takes two to tango, they say.

While Indian cricket has been bestowed with some of the most illustrious batting stars over the course of its Test life, it has been privileged to see batsmen stitch some of the most memorable knocks in unison, standing shoulder to shoulder and stacking runs together, often to help the side out of trouble, highlighting how cricket, despite its tendency for celebrating individual deeds, is still a team game.

Here are the highest partnerships for each wicket for Team India in Tests:

1st wicket - Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy - 413

A record that stood the test of time, until it was broken by Graeme Smith and Neil McKenzie in 2008 against Bangladesh, the honours for the highest opening partnership were with Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy.

Back in 1956, the duo put on a world-record partnership against New Zealand at the Corporation Stadium in Chennai (Madras).

The 413-run stand came in the fifth Test of the series that India were leading 1-0. Roy was the one whose departure led to the end of the partnership, getting out to Matt Poore's leg-spin, while Mankad continued to score 231.

2nd wicket - Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara - 370

Two of India's best bets when it comes to scoring runs in Tests abroad, Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara were involved in a massive 370 run stand at Hyderabad, during India's iconic 4-0 whitewash over Australia.

The series is, perhaps, remembered more for MS Dhoni's career-best 224 at Chennai, or for Ravindra Jadeja troubling Michael Clarke on several occasions throughout their tour, but not as much for Pujara's double century, or Vijay's fighting 167.

The partnership laid the perfect platform for the bowlers to bundle the visitors out for 131 in the second innings, completing a victory by a margin of an innings and 131 runs.

3rd wicket - Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar - 336

The master and the apprentice joined hands for several memorable innings throughout the 2000s, but the most cherished one was the 336-run stand at Multan, the home to Virender Sehwag's (and India's) first triple century.

Taking the Pakistani bowling attack by the scruff of the neck, Sehwag used his natural game to devastating effect, effectively ending Saqlain Mushtaq's career in one of the most authoritative Test innings played till date.

Rarely does it happen, but Sachin Tendulkar played second-fiddle, helping himself to an unbeaten 194, when Rahul Dravid, the stand-in captain, in a rather controversial decision, called the batsmen back to declare the innings.

4th wicket - Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane - 365

An underprepared New Zealand side walked into India's unbeaten juggernaut in 2016, and suffered a humiliating 3-0 whitewash. The heroes for India in the third Test were Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane, who joined hands with the Indian team at 100-3, and helped them get to 557-5.

Kohli eased his way to 211 off 366 balls, while Rahane helped him along with 188, as the Kiwi line-up was flattened beyond repair. The 336-run stand at Indore typified India's performance throughout the series, one where they comprehensively outplayed the hosts.

India eventually won the match by a massive 321 runs.

5th wicket - VVS Laxman and Rahul Dravid - 376

A partnership of a lifetime, the Laxman-Dravid marathon at Kolkata was a stand that defined Indian cricket over the next decade and a half, giving it a fighting spirit that carried into the next two years, with the NatWest Series win, the Champions Trophy triumph and the runners-up finish in the 2003 World Cup.

With their backs to the wall, the Indian side, the 'Final Frontier' according to Steve Waugh, started their second innings in the 2nd Test of the series, having been shot down for 171 in response to Australia's 445.

Laxman, who top-scored in the first innings, played a knock filled with delightful strokes and a will of steel, ably matched by Rahul Dravid, who shrugged off poor form with a delectable 180. Australia eventually lost the match, despite imposing a follow-on on the hosts.

6th wicket - Dileep Vengsarkar and Ravi Shastri - 298*

A year after pocketing the Champion of Champions award (and an Audi), Ravi Shastri came into the limelight once again, this time joining forces with Dileep Vengsarkar against Australia at Mumbai.

The match eventually ended in a draw, but not before the middle-order duo of Vengsarkar and Shastri (in a particularly belligerent mood, slamming 9 fours and six sixes) stacked up an unbeaten 298 runs together. Vengsarkar remained not out at 164 and Shastri at 121 when the side declared.

Shastri then came back to pick up two wickets, but the draw meant that the three-match series ended at 0-0.

7th wicket - Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin - 280

It took Rohit a long time to enter the Test arena, especially after having suffered a heartbreaking pre-game injury in 2010 against South Africa, the game that was supposed to be his debut in the India whites.

When the debut did eventually come, in 2013, Sharma made sure that it counted, pulling together a crucial seventh-wicket partnership of 280 to rest his case. Ashwin continued in merriment against the West Indies, officially his most favoured opponents while batting, scoring a 124, which, along with Rohit's 177, helped the side recover from 83-5.

Popular opinion could be divided on Rohit's skills in the longest format, but the 177 at Kolkata remains his highest Test score till date.

8th wicket - Virat Kohli and Jayant Yadav - 241

Before 2016, Virat Kohli batting with a tail-ender wasn't a frequent sight, especially with his failure to convert hundreds into doubles. After Murali Vijay's 136, the Indian team looked poised for a big score, but the innings tailed off, with the middle-order imploding and falling apart. In a bid to get close to a big total, Kohli combined with Jayant Yadav to push the hosts past 600.

The 235 remained Kohli's highest score until the next year, and he grew from strength to strength thereafter, while Jayant encountered quite a downfall, and fell down the pecking order of spinners, completely vanishing from the Test team with the start of 2018.

9th wicket - Nana Joshi and Ramakant Desai - 149

A century by the great Hanif Mohammad and Saeed Ahmed in the first innings meant that Pakistan had the upper hand in the first Test at Mumbai on Pakistan's tour to India in 1960. The Indian side had slid to 300-8, when Nana Joshi and Ramakant Desai, coming in at No.8 and No.9, played brilliant rearguard knocks of 52 and 85 respectively to push the score close to 450, combining for a record 149 runs together.

The declaration came soon, but by then, the game had already ambled towards a draw, despite the first-ball duck from Hanif Mohammad at the hands of Desai, the top-scorer in the first innings.

The match was, incidentally, Joshi's last for Team India.

10th wicket - Sachin Tendulkar and Zaheer Khan

Sachin Tendulkar's best Test score (and also Zaheer Khan's) came in the 1st Test of India's tour to Bangladesh at Dhaka in 2004 - in an innings that saw the Master Blaster help recover the side from 68-3 and take it all the way to 526 with an unbeaten 248.

Zaheer, not a mug with the bat, helped Sachin in stretching the Indian lead, taking them from 393-9 to 526, hitting 10 fours and two sixes in the process, before he was stumped off the bowling of part-timer Mohammad Ashraful.

India won the match by an innings and 140 runs.