While it’s important how consistent two batsmen are as a pair, it’s also important how quickly they score their runs when they are batting together, particularly in white ball cricket.
In white ball cricket, the success of a batting pair can’t be judged on the basis of the sheer volume of runs that they have scored. One also needs to keep an eye on the rate at which the runs have been scored by a pair.
Here are the 4 Indian batting pairs who have scored runs with the highest run rate in ODIs –
#1 Gautam Gambhir/Virender Sehwag:
Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag batted together in a total of 49 ODI innings, scoring 2242 runs at an average of 46.70. The pair had 5 century and 9 half-century partnerships between them.
But, apart from their consistency, what’s more important was that they scored their runs quickly at the top of the order for India. When Gambhir and Sehwag batted together, they scored their runs at a rate of 6.40 runs per over.
#2 Virat Kohli/Suresh Raina:
Virat Kohli and Suresh Raina have batted together towards the latter stages of the innings in most of the games because Raina has generally been a finisher for India.
However, despite batting together mostly in the second half of the innings, the pair of Kohli and Raina has shown tremendous consistency. They have averaged 58.89 as a pair and have stitched 7 century and 10 half-century partnerships.
Apart from maintaining a very high average, this pair has also scored their runs at a rate of 6.33 runs per over.
#3 Sachin Tendulkar/Virender Sehwag:
Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag are one of the only three batting pairs of India who have batted together in more than 100 innings.
They mostly opened the batting together and made full use of the fielding restrictions. Sehwag was slightly more aggressive of the two, but when Tendulkar was in mood, he went after the bowling as well.
Tendulkar and Sehwag put together more than 4000 runs between themselves, scoring at a rate of 6.13 runs per over.
#4 Sourav Ganguly/Virender Sehwag:
When Sourav Ganguly promoted Virender Sehwag up the order to open the batting with Sachin Tendulkar, he slotted himself at no. 3 and since he was batting at no. 3, he got the opportunity to bat with Sehwag a no. of times.
Ganguly and Sehwag batted together in a total of 62 innings and scored 2481 runs at an average of 42.05. They maintained a rate of 5.96 runs per over as a pair.
