Collectively, the opening duo of India spent 660 minutes on the crease
Nowadays, spending hours on the crease is not the style of batting batters wish to display. No thanks to shorter formats such as T20I or styles of play like ‘Bazball,’ which have somewhat ruined the essence of Test cricket these days, as batters start hitting the ball the moment they set their foot on the crease.
Therefore, they either accumulate runs quickly or get out in a jiffy and return to the pavilion. In short, long standings in Test cricket have become a rare phenomenon. However, even a decade ago, things were different when players had the ability to spend days on the crease.
January 16 is one such date when an Indian duo spent 660 minutes on the pitch, toying with PAK bowlers in their backyard, i.e., Lahore.
While India’s neighbour and rival has always been hailed for its great bowling line-up, it also once boasted of a tricky batting line-up. When India toured PAK in 2006, the first Test match witnessed PAK scoring 679 runs in the first innings.
Younis Khan scored 199 runs, whereas Mohammad Yousuf had put on 173 runs on the board. Down the pecking order, Shahid Afridi and Kamran Akmal had scored 103 and 102 runs, respectively.
The collective efforts of these batters had rattled the Indian bowling lineup. However, in response, two Indian batters were enough to toy with Pakistan’s bowling line-up.
The opening duo of Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid was determined not to give away their wickets. Sehwag spent 328 minutes on the crease, scoring 254 runs in 247 balls, including 47 boundaries and one six, while maintaining a strike rate of 102.83.
On the other end, it was the Wall of Indian cricket. Rahul Dravid had no intention of hitting like Sehwag, and he maintained stability while tiring PAK bowlers. He spent 332 runs on the crease, facing 233 balls while scoring merely 123 runs at a strike rate of 54.93.
Together, the two batters scored 410 runs and nearly broke the highest test partnership record scored by an opening duo—nearly because Sehwag lost his wicket and the duo could not hit another four runs that were needed to break the record of 413 set by Indian openers Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy against New Zealand in 1956.
Nonetheless, the long stand by only two Indian batters spoilt the efforts of PAK’s batting line-up and drew the game with ease. For his 254 runs, Sehwag was awarded the Player of the Match award.
Two years later, the record of Vinoo Mankad and Pankaj Roy was broken by South African opening duo Neil McKenzie and Graeme Smith, who scored 415 runs against Bangladesh on February 29, 2008, in Chittagong. This partnership also forced Dravid Sehwag’s partnership to slip to third place.
