Openers are the most integral part of a team’s batting department. Their approach of commencing an innings determines a team’s mentality and their approach in the game. In the history of ODI cricket there have been several instances of openers scoring big and helping to propel their team’s score towards a huge one. In the impending list we’re going to list down the top 5 highest opening wicket partnerships.
5) David Warner & Travis Head – In the 5th encounter of Pakistan tour of Australia in 2017, the opening duo of Warner and Travis Head massacred the Pakistani bowling line up to tally up a huge score of 284 runs for the opening partnership. Pakistan’s bowlers though tried hard to get back, it was already too late. Few late strikes from Pakistan’s side ensured that the Aussies score no more than 369 for the loss of 7 wickets. Pakistan batters though tried hard to reach the target but 369 was way too much for them and finally Pakistan team got all out for 312 and lost the match by 57 runs.
4) Upul Tharanga & Sanath Jayasuriya – In the 5th ODI of Sri Lanka tour of England, the Sri Lankan destructive opening duo of Jayasuriya-Tharanga smashed a record 286 runs partnership in just 32 overs. Before this, England scored a mammoth
total of 321 runs courtesy of Marcus Trescothick, and Sri Lanka had to chase that down to complete the series whitewash. The Sri Lankan openers going berserk meant chasing that huge target even in that era became just a formality. Both Tharanga and Jayasuriya had scored their respective tons and notched up a record partnership of 286 runs and guided Sri Lanka to chase down that huge total in just 37.3 overs with 8
wickets remaining to complete their total dominance over England in that series.
3) Liton Das & Tamim Iqbal – The very recent entrant in this list is the Bangladeshi duo of Liton – Tamim. In the 3rd ODI of Zimbabwe tour of Bangladesh in 2020, Liton Das and Tamim Iqbal recorded a huge 292 runs partnership in just 41 overs to destroy Zimbabwe’s bowling. Liton was well on-course towards a double hundred but unfortunately fell short by just 24 runs. Tamim also remained not out on 128 runs in the rain-curtailed game but ensured that Bangladesh set a huge target of 323 runs in just 43 overs for the Zimbabwean team. In reply the Zimbabwean team got bundled out for just 218 runs and Bangladesh completed the whitewash by worsting
Zimbabwe by 123 runs via D/L method.
2) Imam – ul – Haq & Fakhar Zaman – In the 4th ODI of Pakistan tour of Zimbabwe, Pakistani openers were on a whole different level as they were smashing every delivery coming to them. Fakhar Zaman the aggressor among the two was hitting
every ball from the middle of the bat. The openers made a record-breaking 304 runs partnership in just 42 overs. Both the openers recorded their respective century but as it seemed from the very beginning of the innings that Fakhar was doing everything right,
he did the improbable by becoming the first-ever Pakistani to score a double-ton in ODIs. His final score was 210* off just 156 deliveries. Pakistan ended just 1 run short of 400 but ensured that Pakistan record their highest ever ODI score. Zimbabwean batting line up as expected tottered and stumbled in their chase before getting bundled out for just 155 runs to hand Pakistan a record-breaking 244 runs win.
1) John Campbell & Shai Hope – In the 1st match of the Tri-Nation series between West Indies and Ireland, the Caribbean opening duo recorded a swashbuckling partnership of 365 runs in 47.2 overs which won’t be too easy to break. The openers toyed with the Irish bowling line up and both the openers went on to score 150+ runs. Campbell and Hope finally ended up scoring 179 and 170 runs respectively but the severe damage was already done before they got out. West Indies ended up scoring 381 runs in the allotted 50 overs and bundled out the Ireland for just 185 runs to emerge victorious by 196 runs in the match. This 365 runs partnership also remains as the 2nd highest partnership for any wicket ever in ODI history and is probably going to hold that place in the record book for a long duration.
