Partnerships always hold an extremely pivotal place in impacting the games at large as one great synergy between batsmen can take away the match even from the best of the bowlers.
Despite the avatar of batting changing over the years, especially in the shortest format of the game, where instead of prolonged partnerships, cricketers prefer taking the route of a personal onslaught, there have been exceptions to this new norm of cricket.
We will be looking at five longest partnerships in the Indian Premier League that defied the odds and challenged the prevalent concept of hard-hitting by one individual soul.
1. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers – 229 runs, Bengaluru, 2016
In a lopsided encounter against the Gujrat Lions, Kohli and De Villiers hammered their way out to a partnership best of all time in the domestic extravaganza. Batting first, Gayle was dismissed early as he was castled by Kulkarni. However, the bowler shortly realised that he should have allowed a longer hand to the Caribbean Titan as the next two at the crease were two of the world’s best batsmen, ABD and Kohli.
The two started hewing away at the bowlers without any sense of their surroundings and managed to notch up a staggering 229 runs partnership amongst themselves where Kohli notched up 109 off 55 while De Villiers registered 129 from 52 deliveries with an unprecedented carnage.
Kohli was finally dismissed on the penultimate ball of the innings as Praveen Kumar scalped him after the Indian skipper clobbering 5 boundaries and 8 over boundaries. While ABD stayed unbeaten as he went on to bludgeon the bowlers for a bloodbath that witnessed 10 boundaries and 12 sixes.
RCB sealed the game comfortably as a bowling masterclass from Chris Jordan and Yuzvendra Chahal wreaked havoc in the Lion’s batting, bundling them for a paltry 104.
2. Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers – 215 runs, Mumbai, 2015
This is the second time the duo featured in this list and this incident happened a year back when Kohli and ABD destroyed the Mumbai bowling with unprecedented firepower.
After Gayle was removed early by Malinga, the duo started with the overhaul and shortly was indulged in producing the second-highest partnership of IPL.
Combining for the 3rd wicket the duo plundered 215 runs between themselves as Kohli stayed unbeaten on 82 off 50 deliveries, comprising six 4’s and four 6’s, it was De Villiers who laid waste to the counterparts. The South African stalwart sliced another impeccable knock, scoring an unbeaten 133 from only 59 deliveries that featured a staggering 19 boundaries and 4 maximums.
Despite Mumbai trying desperately to challenge RCB as Pollard and Simmons raised their hopes, a miserly spell from Aravind saw Bangalore walking away with the bragging rights.
3. Adam Gilchrist and Shaun Marsh, 206 runs, Dharamsala, 2011
Despite being in the twilight of his career, Gilly was in India for one dynamic swansong and this was it. The Australia duo settled beautifully to humiliate and ailing Bangalore with consummate ease.
Despite Paul Valthaty starting off to a flyer, Langeveldt dealt the telling blow to this star as Punjab was shortly reeling at 25 for 1.
What happened thereafter was a carnage of the maximum brutality. Gilchrist unleashed a rare gem of a knock in his final days as a cricketer as he hammered the RCB bowlers to all corners of the park.
He and Marsh combined for a brilliant 206 runs partnership that propelled KXIP to 231 before Langeveldt snuffed out Gilly for 106 from 55 deliveries, clobbering 8 boundaries and 9 over boundaries.
Marsh stayed unbeaten on 79 from 55 balls, smashing seven 4’s and five 6’s.
Despite being the victors in the first two occasions on the list, RCB was at the receiving end this time as Piyush Chawla and Ryan Harris skittled them out for 121, sharing 7 wickets between them.
- Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli, 204 runs, Delhi, 2012
This is for the third time in the list that Virat Kohli has found himself, however, the other partner changed. From ABD, it was this time, Chris Gayle, the Spartan who is known for toying with the bowlers on his heyday.
Dilshan couldn’t make much or himself as he was dismissed for a paltry 10 by Varun Aaron. This, however, irked Gayle to such an extent that he bared down his arsenal and handed Delhi thrashing of a lifetime.
Couple with Kohli for the third wicket, the dup notched up 204 runs and stayed unbeaten until the end as Gayle struck a blistering 128 off just 62 deliveries that featured 7 fours and 13 sixes while Kohli played the perfect anchor to his partner, registering 73 off 53 balls, smashing 9 fours and a six.
With 216 to win, Delhi fought tooth and nail until the dying end, thanks to unified efforts from Ross Taylor, Andre Russell and Venugopal Rao but their ability to stitch a successful partnership in between disrupted their calculations and cost them the match.
- David Warner and Naman Ojha, 189 runs, Hyderabad, 2012
This was a sensational victory for Delhi Daredevils as David Warner’s pyrotechnics were extremely flashy for the Deccan Chargers to handle. Chasing a monumental score of 187, Delhi was left stammering as Sehwag was dismissed in the very second ball of the innings after striking a boundary off the first.
However, Warner then took up matters in his own hands and started dishing out massive hits, trading the bowlers only in boundaries with consistent stealing of runs by Naman Ojha at the other end.
The duo didn’t let another wicket fall and crossed the winning line with 3.1 overs to spare as Warner hammered an unbeaten 109 off only 54 deliveries while Ojha played a composed knock of 64 from 46 deliveries.
Warner’s boundary count was 10 fours and 7 sixes that left the Chargers bereft of any significant charge to challenge their counterparts.
