Tendulkar - Ganguly, Haynes -
Greenidge, Hayden - Langer. These are few of the names which come to our mind
when we think of the greatest pairs in history. The former has put together
more runs and scored more hundreds in ODIs than any other pair in the history
of the game. The next two pairs were the opening combination of two of the
greatest sides of the modern era respectively - the mighty West Indians of
1980s and the incomparable Australians of early 2000s. But when it comes to the
sheer aesthetic delight of watching cricket one pair stands tall above the
rest. The two friends from Colombo - Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara has just
recently went past Sachin - Saurav’s record of most runs put together by any
pair in all international cricket. The Sight Screen is back after a hiatus of 2
months and in this edition we are looking at the exploits of the two Sri Lankan
wizards.
In recently concluded Lord’s
test between England and Sri Lanka, with the score at 245/2 Sangakkara came
down the track and chipped debutant and part time off spinner Moeen Ali over
the head of mid-on. The ball landed a few feet short of the long on fence and
sped across the ropes for his 9th boundary of the innings. But on a
more significant note with that boundary the Mahela - Sanga pair brought up 12400th
partnership run thereby overtaking Sachin - Ganguly’s record.
 |
| Mahela & Snaga have played in 5 WC finals. Here in action vs Ind,Mumbai,2 Apr 2011. |
Most partnership runs in
international cricket
Players
|
Team
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Avg
|
Best
|
100s
|
50s
|
Mahela/Sangakkara
|
SL
|
273
|
12466
|
18472+
|
47.94
|
624
|
33
|
57
|
Sachin/Ganguly
|
Ind
|
247
|
12400
|
14241+
|
51.45
|
281
|
38
|
45
|
Haynes/Greenidge
|
WI
|
251
|
11688
|
NA
|
49.52
|
298
|
31
|
51
|
Sachin/Dravid
|
Ind
|
241
|
11037
|
15409+
|
47.98
|
331
|
31
|
43
|
Jayasuriya/Atapattu
|
SL
|
266
|
9995
|
11794+
|
39.35
|
335
|
23
|
50
|
# Barring Mahela - Sang, none others batted together in T20Is.
Most partnership runs in test
cricket
Players
|
Team
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Avg
|
Best
|
100s
|
50s
|
Sachin/Dravid
|
Ind
|
143
|
6920
|
11085+
|
50.51
|
249
|
20
|
29
|
Haynes/Greenidge
|
WI
|
148
|
6482
|
NA
|
47.31
|
298
|
16
|
26
|
Mahela/Sangakkara
|
SL
|
113
|
6151
|
11013
|
56.43
|
624
|
17
|
25
|
Langer/Hayden
|
Aus
|
122
|
6081
|
9492+
|
51.53
|
255
|
14
|
28
|
Cook/Strauss
|
Eng
|
132
|
5253
|
10143
|
40.40
|
229
|
14
|
21
|
Most partnership runs in ODI
cricket
Players
|
Team
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Avg
|
Best
|
100s
|
50s
|
Sachin/Ganguly
|
Ind
|
176
|
8227
|
8292+
|
47.55
|
258
|
26
|
29
|
Mahela/Sangakkara
|
SL
|
137
|
5493
|
6686+
|
41.93
|
179
|
14
|
29
|
Jayasuriya/Atapattu
|
SL
|
144
|
5462
|
4920+
|
39.29
|
237
|
14
|
26
|
Gilchrist/Hayden
|
Aus
|
117
|
5409
|
5456
|
47.44
|
172
|
16
|
29
|
Haynes/Greenidge
|
WI
|
103
|
5206
|
NA
|
52.88
|
192*
|
15
|
25
|
Most partnership runs in T20I
cricket
Players
|
Team
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
Balls
|
Avg
|
Best
|
100s
|
50s
|
Warner/Watson
|
Aus
|
35
|
1146
|
771
|
32.74
|
133
|
3
|
6
|
Guptill/B McCullum
|
NZ
|
21
|
825
|
596
|
43.42
|
127*
|
2
|
4
|
Mahela/Sangakkara
|
SL
|
22
|
822
|
671
|
41.10
|
166
|
2
|
3
|
Dilshan/Mahela
|
SL
|
31
|
766
|
574
|
26.41
|
145
|
1
|
3
|
Hales/Lumb
|
Eng
|
18
|
705
|
461
|
41.47
|
143*
|
2
|
3
|
The two batted together for
the first time during a chase in an ODI at Colombo RPS against Pakistan. SL was
positioned at 167 for the loss of 3 wickets, chasing 241 for victory when Sanga
came out to join Mahela in the middle. The pair put on 52 runs in 63 balls
anchoring the chase. Since then they have put on 91 stands of 50 or more runs,
easily the most by any pair in history.
The table below shows the
landmarks achieved by the pair. 9 of the 13 landmarks were reached with century
partnerships and 3 more with 50 partnerships - a probable sign that they
celebrate landmarks with pomp and élan.
# For all the tables in this
article, ball by ball updates are only for matches starting from 01 August,
2001.
# KS stands for Kumar Sangakkara
& MJ for Mahela Jayawardene.
# NA stands for Not Available.
Run
|
Inngs
|
Type
|
Against
|
Venue
|
Date
|
When on
|
Final
|
KS
|
MJ
|
1st
|
1
|
ODI
|
Pak
|
Colombo(RPS)
|
9 Jul 2000
|
1
|
52
|
-
|
-
|
1000th
|
24
|
Test
|
Pak
|
Lahore
|
6 Mar 2002
|
86
|
173
|
230+
|
294+
|
2000th
|
51
|
ODI
|
Aus
|
Colombo(SSC)
|
29 Feb 2004
|
4
|
60
|
682+
|
736+
|
3000th
|
68
|
Test
|
Pak
|
Karachi
|
28 Oct 2004
|
9
|
18
|
1168+
|
1154+
|
4000th
|
92
|
Test
|
Pak
|
Colombo(SSC)
|
26 Mar 2006
|
37
|
158
|
1693+
|
1665+
|
5000th
|
102
|
Test
|
SA
|
Colombo(SSC)
|
27 Jul 2006
|
477
|
624
|
2151+
|
2167+
|
6000th
|
119
|
ODI
|
Eng
|
Dambulla
|
1 Oct 2007
|
7
|
71
|
2591+
|
2590+
|
7000th
|
146
|
Test
|
Bang
|
Dhaka
|
26 Dec 2008
|
58
|
135
|
3015+
|
3043+
|
8000th
|
170
|
Test
|
NZ
|
Colombo(SSC)
|
26 Aug 2009
|
92
|
173
|
3630+
|
3480+
|
9000th
|
191
|
Test
|
Ind
|
Colombo(PSS)
|
3 Aug 2010
|
35
|
55
|
4069+
|
3926+
|
10000th
|
210
|
ODI
|
Eng
|
Leeds
|
1 Jul 2011
|
87
|
159
|
4554+
|
4434+
|
11000th
|
236
|
ODI
|
Pak
|
Colombo(RPS)
|
16 Jun 2012
|
13
|
110
|
5041+
|
4928+
|
12000th
|
263
|
Test
|
Bang
|
Chittagong
|
4 Feb 2014
|
18
|
178
|
5543+
|
5432+
|
12401*
|
271
|
Test
|
Eng
|
Lord’s
|
12 Jun 2014
|
97
|
126
|
5690+
|
5543+
|
They have been fairly consistent
against all oppositions, averaging above 39, barring Zimbabwe against whom they
average 29.33 in 13 innings with a highest of 89. The opposition against whom
they feasted the most was SA - an average of 83.80 in 21 innings. The first 100
partnership came against them; 168 at Kingsmead. They came together with SL
starring down the barrel at 2/2 in reply to SA’s 420. They put together 168
runs for the 3rd wicket and bailed SL out temporarily before losing
last 8 wickets for 46 runs.
But the most significant
innings from the pair came 5 years later against the same opposition at Colombo.
SL was once again in early trouble at 14/2 after restricting SA for 189. The
next 22.5 overs of the day saw the pair putting on 114 runs as SL finished on
128/2 with Mahela on 55 and Sanga on 59. Day 2 saw the pair putting on 357 runs
with them still unseperated at close of play with both of them reaching their
respective double centuries. They partnership read 471 runs, 105 behind the
all- time record of 576 by Sanath Jayasuriya and Roshan Mahanama against India
in 1997. At lunch on day 3 they were 6 short of equalling the world record. In
the second ball of the 146th over when Mark Boucher failed to
collect a delivery outside leg stump from Nicky Boje the world record was
rewritten. The partnership was finally broken when Sanga was eventually
dismissed for 287 caught behind off Andrew Hall. Mahela continued his merry
making till he finally fell short of Brian Lara’s world record of 400 by 26
runs.
 |
| Sanga & Mahela during their marathon 624-run partnership vs SL |
Opposition wise in all
international cricket
vs
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
KS(runs)
|
KS(balls)
|
MJ(runs)
|
MJ(balls)
|
Avg
|
Best
|
RR
|
100/50
|
Afg
|
1
|
33
|
18
|
23
|
14
|
14
|
33
|
33
|
5.34
|
0/0
|
Af XI
|
2
|
23
|
17
|
17
|
4
|
14
|
11.50
|
22
|
4.44
|
0/0
|
Aus
|
39
|
1536
|
763
|
1209
|
694
|
1250
|
39.38
|
121
|
3.76
|
4/8
|
Bang
|
17
|
1283
|
626
|
895
|
603
|
972
|
75.47
|
311
|
4.06*
|
3/8
|
Ber
|
1
|
150
|
76
|
83
|
62
|
73
|
150
|
150
|
5.76
|
1/0
|
Can
|
1
|
179
|
78
|
66
|
96
|
72
|
179
|
179
|
7.78
|
1/0
|
Eng
|
42
|
1694
|
723+
|
1235+
|
844+
|
1318+
|
44.57
|
159
|
3.91
|
4/8
|
Ind
|
44
|
1723
|
816+
|
1183+
|
790+
|
1149+
|
39.15
|
193
|
4.41
|
6/7
|
NZ
|
22
|
826
|
375+
|
617+
|
377+
|
565+
|
39.33
|
173
|
4.02
|
2/5
|
Pak
|
53
|
2023
|
983+
|
1450+
|
825+
|
1514+
|
40.46
|
173
|
3.96
|
5/10
|
SA
|
21
|
1676
|
718+
|
1250+
|
648+
|
1113+
|
83.80
|
624
|
3.64
|
4/5
|
WI
|
16
|
968
|
417
|
649
|
485
|
647
|
64.53
|
166
|
4.51
|
3/4
|
Zimb
|
13
|
352
|
163
|
221
|
160
|
237
|
29.33
|
89
|
4.29
|
0/2
|
# Both innings against Africa XI was when they represented Asia XI
When he came into the side in mid-2000
Mahela was Sri Lanka’s established No. 4 batsman and Sanga began to bat at no.
5. The first time they batted together at No. 3 was the above mentioned Durban
test in 2001 where they put on 168. Since then they have had 16 more stands of
100 or more. They are only behind Dravid and Sachin in tests in terms of runs
and century partnerships in test cricket. But they averaged 60 runs per stand
to Dravid - Sachin’s 48. In ODIs they have batted together on more occasions
than that any non-opening combination (121 times) and have also put together
most number of runs (4942) with most century stands (14). They are the only
pair to put up 3000+ runs for the 3rd wicket in ODIs.
Wicket wise in all international
cricket
Wkt
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
KS(runs)
|
KS(balls)
|
MJ(runs)
|
MJ(balls)
|
Avg
|
Best
|
100
|
50
|
2
|
28
|
1240
|
541+
|
671+
|
603+
|
719+
|
51.66
|
166
|
2
|
8
|
3
|
190
|
9475
|
4513+
|
7315+
|
4254+
|
7310+
|
50.94
|
624
|
26
|
42
|
4
|
44
|
1575
|
633+
|
905+
|
646+
|
850+
|
38.41
|
121
|
5
|
7
|
5
|
8
|
196
|
85+
|
155+
|
94+
|
118+
|
24.50
|
58
|
0
|
1
|
6
|
1
|
9
|
1
|
10
|
5
|
8
|
9
|
9
|
0
|
0
|
The pair thrived on the flat
tracks of Asia averaging well above 50 in Sri Lana, Pakistan and Bangladesh. At
home they have put together 6300 runs and are the only pair to score 5000+ runs
on home tracks. They have generally struggled outside Asia, averaging only
35.36 in 66 innings outside Asia excluding England. In England they average 49.65
in 30 innings with 3 partnerships of 100 or more.
Country wise in all international cricket
Country
|
Inngs
|
Runs
|
KS(runs)
|
KS(balls)
|
MJ(runs)
|
MJ(balls)
|
Avg
|
Best
|
100
|
50
|
Aus
|
23
|
856
|
456
|
661
|
362
|
611
|
37.21
|
153
|
2
|
4
|
Bang
|
15
|
822
|
418
|
632
|
377
|
639
|
54.80
|
178
|
2
|
5
|
Eng
|
30
|
1291
|
550
|
875
|
643
|
959
|
49.65
|
159
|
3
|
7
|
Ind
|
17
|
611
|
281
|
452
|
289
|
398
|
35.94
|
151
|
2
|
3
|
Ken
|
1
|
13
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
NA
|
13.00
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
NZ
|
5
|
138
|
57
|
91
|
42
|
71
|
27.60
|
70
|
0
|
1
|
Pak
|
13
|
703
|
356
|
449
|
297
|
491
|
58.58
|
173
|
1
|
5
|
SA
|
18
|
521
|
172+
|
277+
|
134+
|
291+
|
30.64
|
168
|
2
|
0
|
SL
|
115
|
6300
|
2912+
|
4767+
|
2948+
|
4786+
|
57.27
|
624
|
18
|
27
|
UAE
|
14
|
382
|
178+
|
348+
|
136+
|
285+
|
29.38
|
102
|
1
|
2
|
WI
|
15
|
594
|
268
|
341
|
278
|
309
|
39.60
|
166
|
2
|
1
|
Zimb
|
6
|
235
|
125
|
163
|
96
|
165
|
36.16
|
89
|
0
|
2
|
 |
| After winning the WT20 2014 final vs India,Dhaka,06 Apr 2014 |
Top 10 partnerships by Mahela -
Sanga
Runs
|
Type
|
vs
|
Venue
|
Date
|
KS
|
MJ
|
624
|
Test
|
SA
|
Colombo (SSC)
|
27 Jul 2006
|
285(670)
|
309(498)
|
311
|
Test
|
Bang
|
Kandy
|
11 Jul 2007
|
139(187)
|
165(210)
|
193
|
Test
|
Ind
|
Colombo (SSC)
|
26 Jul 2010
|
114(162)
|
75(142)
|
192
|
Test
|
SA
|
Colombo (SSC)
|
11 Aug 2004
|
104(168)
|
82(210)
|
179
|
ODI
|
Can
|
Hambantota
|
20 Feb 2011
|
78(66)
|
96(72)
|
178
|
Test
|
Bang
|
Chittagong
|
04 Feb 2014
|
103(155)
|
72(147)
|
173
|
Test
|
Pak
|
Lahore
|
06 Mar 2002
|
100(128)
|
68(96)
|
173
|
Test
|
NA
|
Colombo (SSC)
|
26 Aug 2009
|
90(138)
|
79(105)
|
168
|
Test
|
SA
|
Durban
|
26 Dec 2000
|
NA
|
NA
|
166
|
T20I
|
WI
|
Bridgetown
|
07 May 2010
|
68(49)
|
86(50)
|
# All partnerships came for the 3rd wicket except the 166 vs
WI which was for the 2nd wicket.
# In the 272 partnership innings together, Mahela was dismissed 150
times and Sanga 110 times while 12 times they remained unbeaten.
# In the 5 match series against Australia at home in 2004 , Mahela and
Sanga batted together in all 5 ODIs - they only time they did in a series of 3
or more matches, putting up scores of 121, 70, 24, 63 & 60.
# In Feb-Mar 2009, they put together 5 consecutive stands of 50 or more
– 67, 61, 84, 58 & 61.
# On 7 occasions the partnership got off the mark with a boundary first
ball with Mahela doing it on each time.
# They were dismissed off the first ball they faced 5 times with Mahela
at the wrong end on 4 times and Sanga once.
# They have batted together in both innings of a test on 19 times - 7 of
those against Pakistan.
* All stats updated till June 19, 2014.
TAILENDER
The two friends with another
partnership, this time off the field. Ministry of Crabs is one of the most
famous restaurants in Colombo. It is run by Mahela and Sanga along with Dharshan Munidasa.
