Tale of 2 Birds : Sachin Tendulkar & Sourav Ganguly

                                                         Sachin Tendulkar & Sourav Ganguly

Sachin and Sourav from back in the day where both of them look really young. both have travel their own path, sachin lucky get into indian squad in young age while sourav ganguly wait until lord test in england 1996 to finally hold on spot. They played alot worldwide in all conditions, but both sign off in different manner.                                                                                                                                                                                                         

                                                                                                                                           

                                                                                                                                                                        #Note : 40 other times when Sachin-Sourav have batted together, but not as opening pair - aggregates 1668 runs. So, total runs made between these openers is 8277 with an average of almost 48.                  

             

     Man of the Match : 56 awards to Sachin Tendulkar (the most) and 31 for Sourav Ganguly (3rd most).                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Highest : 258 (vs Kenya),                                                                                                                                                           252 (vs SL),                                                                                                                                                                 244 (vs Namibia),                                                                                                                                                        197 (vs Zimbabwe),                                                                                                                                                     193 (vs South Africa),                                                                                                                                                 175 (vs Australia)..                                                                                                                                     Thrice these two have won the match without being separated! The first time Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly opened for India, was at Bloemfontein - 23rd January 1997. Sachin was himself the captain, and Ganguly was chosen as his partner because he batted left handed! Sachin made 0 that day-night match against South Africa, but Ganguly went on to impress with 40 off 64, and rest is history!

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           An adjustment : was made between Sachin-Sourav opening partnership cause Sourav Ganguly didn't believed in fast singles. Tendulkar did. Ganguly was guilty of eating up the over while in-form Tendulkar waited at the non-strikers end. Thankfully, only 9 runouts have occurred between this best opening pair of ODI.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

 Sachin Tendulkar has been involved in six 200 run partnerships in ODI matched – a record that he shares with Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid.                                                                                                                         
  Highest opening partnership runs in a career

Partners	Span	Inns	NO	Runs	High	Ave	100	50
SC Ganguly, SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	1996-2007	136	2	6609	258	49.32	21	23
AC Gilchrist, ML Hayden (AUS)	2001-2008	114	3	5372	172	48.39	16	29
CG Greenidge, DL Haynes (WI)	1979-1991	102	4	5150	192*	52.55	15	24
S Dhawan, RG Sharma (INDIA)	2013-2019	105	1	4708	210	45.26	16	13
HM Amla, Q de Kock (SA)	2013-2019	93	3	4198	282*	46.64	11	14
V Sehwag, SR Tendulkar (INDIA)	2002-2012	93	0	3919	182	42.13	12	18
AC Gilchrist, ME Waugh (AUS)	1998-2002	93	0	3853	206	41.43	8	20
DC Boon, GR Marsh (AUS)	1986-1992	88	0	3523	212	40.03	7	25
MS Atapattu, ST Jayasuriya (SL)	1997-2007	79	2	3382	237	43.92	8	19
ST Jayasuriya, RS Kaluwitharana (SL)	1996-2004	105	1	3230	129	31.05	6	19
TM Dilshan, WU Tharanga (SL)	2009-2014	71	1	3159	282	45.12	9	13
HH Gibbs, GC Smith (SA)	2002-2009	74	1	3007	174	41.19	8	13
Aamer Sohail, Saeed Anwar (PAK)	1990-2000	73	0	2856	173	39.12	3	20

The gift of both Sachin & sourav was their hunger for centuries. 41 for Tendulkar & 22 for Ganguly proves that an opener must know how to carry his bat through the innings & not throw his wicket for half-centuries!
Sachin Tendulkar with Sourav Ganguly hold the world record for the maximum number of runs scored by the opening partnership. They have put together 6,609 runs in 136 matches that includes 21 century partnerships and 23 fifty run partnerships.