Team India captain Rohit Sharma and his opening partner Shubman Gill put on the fourth highest opening partnership for India in a 10-wicket win over Nepal in their rain-hit Asia Cup 2023 match at the Pallekele International Stadium in Kandy on Monday. Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill matched the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir as well as Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly with a century partnership for the opening wicket in a 10-wicket thrashing.
Rohit and Shubman put on 147 for the first wicket in just over 20 overs as Team India won with 17 balls to spare to book their berth in the Super 4 stage of the Asia Cup 2023 along with Pakistan. The highest opening stand in a 10-wicket win for India belongs to Sehwag and Gambhir, who put on 201 against New Zealand in an ODI in Hamilton back in 2009.
#TeamIndia coast to a thumping victory and storm into the Super 4s! _
The openers remain undefeated, ensuring __ win without any hiccups.
Stay tuned to #AsiaCupOnStar | Star Sports Network#INDvNEP #Cricket pic.twitter.com/tqb6PaYvRs
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) September 4, 2023
The second-highest stand belongs to Tendulkar and Ganguly, who put on 197 against Zimbabwe in Sharjah in 1998. Gill was involved in the third-highest partnership in 10-wicket win with Shikhar Dhawan as they put on 192 against Zimbabwe in Harare last year.
Highest opening partnerships for India in 10-wicket wins (ODIs)
201 - Virender Sehwag & Gautam Gambhir vs NZ, Hamilton, 2009
197 - Sachin Tendulkar & Sourav Ganguly vs ZIM, Sharjah, 1998
192 - Shikhar Dhawan & Shubman Gill vs ZIM, Harare, 2022
147 - Rohit Sharma & Shubman Gill vs Nepal, Pallekele, 2023
The Rohit Sharma-Shubman Gill partnership was also the third-highest opening stand for India in Asia Cup (ODI). Rohit’s partnership of 210 with Shikhar Dhawan against Pakistan in Dubai in 2018 is the highest followed by Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar’s 161-run stand against Sri Lanka in Sharjah in 1995.
“I am not really happy with the knock, some nerves to start with but once I got my eye in, I wanted to get the team home. That was not intentional (the flick-sweep), I wanted to chip it over short fine but the bats these days are so good. When we came here we knew what our World Cup 15 is going to be like, the Asia Cup was not going to give us a better picture because it was only two games. But luckily we got to bat in the first game and bowl in this, so that made it a complete game for us. We still have a lot to work on,” Rohit Sharma said after the match.
