India is one of the top nations in the world of cricket. The Indian team was the second one after West Indies to win the ICC World Cup, while the Men in Blue were the winners of the inaugural ICC T20 World Cup. One of the main reasons behind India’s success is some of the best openers in cricket history have opened the batting for India.
While India has been home to some of the greatest opening batters of all time, they also tried some new opening pairs in international cricket. In this listicle today, we will look at the five opening pair of the Men in Blue that you might have forgotten about.
1. Virat Kohli and Irfan Pathan opened innings for India in 2008
Current Indian batter Virat Kohli once opened the innings with Irfan Pathan in 2008. It was against the Sri Lankan cricket team in Dambulla, where they added eight runs for the first wicket. Sri Lanka lost that game by three wickets.
2. Parthiv Patel and Manoj Tiwary opened for India in 2011
In the fourth ODI of the India vs West Indies series in 2011, Parthiv Patel opened the innings with Manoj Tiwary. They had a partnership of 20 runs, where Tiwary contributed two runs.
3. Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay opened for India in 2010
Tamil Nadu batters Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay opened the batting for the Men in Blue during their ICC T20 World Cup 2010 group stage match against South Africa. They had a partnership of four runs.
4. Ambati Rayudu and KL Rahul
In the 2018 Asia Cup match against Afghanistan, Ambati Rayudu and KL Rahul opened the batting for the nation. Both scored a fifty and had a partnership of 110 runs.
5. Cheteshwar Pujara and Shikhar Dhawan
During India’s Zimbabwe tour in 2013, Cheteshwar Pujara opened the innings with Shikhar Dhawan. Pujara got out for a four-ball duck as the partnership did not add a single run to the Indian total.
