5 Highest scoring opening pairs in ODIs

Cricket is a game that is heavily dependent on partnerships. If you are trying to resurrect the innings after losing early wickets, you need really good partnerships to get you back to a safe situation. If you are batting first, you need partnerships to post a huge total on the board and make it tough for the opposition to chase.

One thing is constant for the batting team and that is, a batting team always need partnerships whether they are batting first or chasing. Knowing the way to build key-partnerships is a very important quality for any player who is trying to become an all-time great.

The sport of cricket has seen some terrific opening pairs who always led the team with some crucial opening runs. We look at five of the highest scoring opening pairs in one-day internationals.

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#5 Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist

The lefthand-righthand duo posed some serious problems

Mark Waugh and Adam Gilchrist do not need any introduction as they come from the golden era of Australian cricket and thrashed even the best of the bowlers. They are one of the most fearsome opener pairs of all-time

The left-right combination made it difficult for the opposition captain to set the field and they ended up accumulating a lot of runs together. They shared eight hundred-run partnership in the one-day internationals.

They amassed 3660 runs at an average of 39.35, after opening the innings together for 93 times and the duo entertained the crowd every time they stepped foot on the ground.

#4 Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag

Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar's opening heroics helped India win 2011 world cup

One of the most entertaining pairs in cricket history, the Sachin-Sehwag duo played some wonderful innings together. The bowlers never had any answers for Sehwag's early onslaught as he and Sachin complemented each other in a spectacular fashion.

The duo enjoyed their most famous success at the 2011 Cricket World Cup when their opening heroics helped India post some really competitive totals. Albeit Sehwag got out for naught in the final at Wankhede, India still found a way to win the World Cup and this has to be the pair's favorite tournament together.

The Sachin-Sehwag duo scored 3745 runs at an average of 40.27 after opening the batting for the country in 93 innings.

#3 Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes

Greenidge and Haynes dominated the bowlers

The Greenidge-Haynes duo belong to the West Indies' golden era and carried the bulk of the batting load, playing some wonderful innings. Their quick-fire innings allowed West Indies post some really high totals.

They have opened the innings together in 102 innings and amassed 4784 runs at an average of 48.32. Their highest partnership in ODIs came against Pakistan in 1981 when they scored 182 runs for the first wicket.

To this day, they are the world's most popular West Indies opening pair and it is hard to talk about the golden era of West Indies cricket without naming this duo.

#2 Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist

The veteran duo smashed bowlers all-around the park

One of the most dangerous pairs in the history of world cricket, Matthew Hayden and Adam Gilchrist, clobbered the bowlers all around the park and showed no mercy. The duo took the attack on the bowlers from the word go and killed the opposition's confidence very early in the game.

They played a very crucial role in the 2003 and 2007 cricket World Cups and helped Australia win it all. The conditions never mattered to them and they kept on putting daggers in the hearts of opposition's fans with their lovely shots.

The veteran duo accumulated 4827 runs at an average of 43.49, after opening the innings together in 114 innings.

#1 Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly

Arguably the greatest opening pair of all-time in ODIs

Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly are arguably the greatest opening pair of all-time in one-day internationals. The duo destroyed even the best of the bowlers and milked runs every time they stepped together to bat.

India's batting in the late 1990s and early 2000s heavily depended on the start these stalwarts provided and India barely recovered whenever the pair failed to deliver.

The veteran duo opened the innings together in 136 innings and scored 6344 runs at a really good average of 47.34. They shared 20 hundred-run partnership in the ODIs, a record which is very unlikely to be broken by the current generation cricketers.