Top 3 Indian partnerships in Champions’ Trophy: The ICC tournament, Champions Trophy 2017, gets under way in England from June 01, 2017. Indian batsmen have done reasonably well in the tournament.
Partnerships and big ones, at that, are very important in putting up a big score, batting first or reach the target, while chasing. If good partnerships develop at the top order, there would be that much lesser pressure lower down the order qho can freely play their shots.
Let us take a look at 3 top Indian partnerships in the ICC Champions Trophy :-
- 192 runs by Sehwag and Ganguly in 2002
The 11th match in the round robin league of the 2002 edition was played at R Premadasa Stadium, Colombo, on 22nd September, 2002, between India and England.
Nasser Hussain led England elected to bat and, riding on the back of a half century by Nick Knight (50), and a solid contribution of 82 runs off 68 deliveries from ian Blackwell, put up 269 runs for the loss of 7 wickets in their allotted 50 overs.
For India, Aashish Nehra and Anil Kumble claimed 2 wickets each.
Chasing 270 runs for a win, the Indian openers, Virendra Sehwag and Saurav Ganguly, ‘set the stadium on fire’ with their flurry of shots all over the ground.
Both of them notched up their centuries. Sehwag got to his ton facing just 77 balls in 104 minutes with the help of 17 fours and a six. He ended up scoring 126 runs in 136 minutes, facing 104 deliveries at a strike rate of 121.15, aided by 21 fours and a six, before he was ‘caught and bowled’ by Blackwell in the 29th over, with Indian score at 192 runs.
Not to be left behind, Ganguly reached the century landmark after facing 103 balls with the help of 10 fours and 2 sixes, after spending 178 minutes at the crease.
The southpaw remained unbeaten till the end putting on 117* runs off 109 balls at a strike rate of 107.33, studded with 12 fours and 3 sixes and helped India reach the target in 39.3 overs. India won the contest by 8 wickets with 63 balls to spare.
The 192-run Indian first-wicket partnership against England, between Sehwag and Ganguly, replaced the then existing record of 188 runs set by Krishnamachari Srikkanth and Ravi Shastri at Cuttack in 1984-85.
Virendra Sehwag won the Player of the Match award.
- 161 runs by Ganguly and Laxman in 2004
The second best Indian batting partnership was witnessed in the Pool C third match of the 2004 edition played against Kenya at The Rose Bowl, Southampton, on 11th September, 2004.
Kenya, led by Steve Tikolo put India into bat. Opening the innings with Saurav Ganguly and Virendra Sehwag, India lost their first wicket in the 10th over with just 30 runs on the board, when Sehwag was dismissed by Thomas Odoyo, after scoring just 17 runs off 27 balls with two fours.
The stylish Hyderabadi batsman, VVS Laxman joined his skipper in the middle and the duo remained un-separated till India reached the score of 191 runs in 38.3 overs.
India’s 50 runs came in 13.5 overs with Ganguly on 30* and Laxman on 3* runs. The 50-run partnership for the second wicket came in 65 deliveries. India’s 100 runs was put in 22.5 overs with Ganguly on 47* and Laman on 24* runs.
Ganguly’s reached his half-ton landmark in 79 balls with 4 hits to the fence.
It took 119 ball for Ganguly and Laxman to register 100 runs for their second-wicket partnership as India’s 150 runs came in 33.3 overs with Ganguly on 77* and Laxman on 44* runs.
The second wicket partnership between Ganguly and Laxman realised 150 runs in 168 balls.
At india’s score of 191 runs, Ganguly departed being ‘done in’ by Martin Suji but not before scoring a valuable 90 runs off 124 balls at a strike rate of 72.58 with the help of 8 fours.
Laxman continued in the company of Yuvraj Singh (9) first and then alongwith Mohammad Kaif (49*) till he was stumped by Kennedy Otieno off the bowling of Steve Tikolo. He contributed 79 runs off 99 balls with 8 fours.
The big second-wicket partnership helped India put up 290 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 50 overs.
Harbhajan Singh with 3 wickets and Irfan Pathan with 2 wickets were successful in restricting the opposition to 192 runs for the loss 7 wickets in 50 overs and India won the game by 98 runs.
Saurav Ganguly was awarded the Player of the Match.
- 145 runs by Ganguly and Dravid in 2000
The second semi-final of the 2000 edition was played between the two super powers, India and South Africa, at Gymkhana Club Ground, Nairobi, on 13th October, 2000.
This game saw India put up their third best partnership in the history of the tournament.
Electing to bat and opening the innings alongwith Saurav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, they put up 66 runs on the board in 14.1 overs, when Tendulkar was dismissed by Jaques Kallis, giving a catch to Lance Klusener. Facing 50 deliveries, Sachin had scored 39 runs with 4 fours.
Rahul Dravid joined his skipper, Ganguly in the middle and the duo added 145 runs 25 overs for the second wicket.
Ganguly reached his half-century in 70 balls with the help of 6 fours and a six. India reached 150 runs in 30.1 overs while the 200 came in 37.5 overs.
The Indian skipper completed his century in 114 balls, aided by 11 boundaries and 3 beyond.
At the score of 211 runs in 39.1 overs, Dravid fell to a catch by Mark Boucher off the bowling of Lance Klusener. By then he had scored 58 runs off 71 deliveries with 9 fours.
84 runs later Indian innings got over with 295 run for the loss of 6 wickets in 50 over.
Playing an innings of 216 minutes, facing 142 deliveries, striking 11 fours and a six, Ganguly scored an unbeaten 141* runs.
Ganguly’s big innings and his second wicket partnership with Dravid coupled with good bowling display by Zaheer Khan, Anil Kumble and Sachin Tendulkar, claiming 2 wickets each helped India win the encounter by 95 runs and enter the finals.
For his brilliant batting efforts, Saurav Ganguly won the Player of the Match award.