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'Shikhar Dhawan and me understand each other quite well' - Rohit Sharma on his opening partnership with Shikar Dhawan

India's opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar on Tuesday completed 5,000 ODI runs as an opening pair in the first ODI vs England

Akshay

13 Jul 2022 07:16 IST

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'Shikhar Dhawan and me understand each other quite well' - Rohit Sharma on his opening partnership with Shikar Dhawan

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have been India's ODI openers ever since they started doing the same in the 2013 Champions Trophy. Since then, there has been no looking back for the duo as they have gone from strength to strength as an opening partnership, and have repeatedly churned out big scores and big partnerships for India.

It was no different in the first ODI against England as well, where the duo stitched together yet another hundred-run partnership against England. The dynamic duo like to keep things simple and their "no fuss" attitude always helps them to take control of the situation and put pressure back onto the opposition bowlers and captains. Yesterday was no different in the sense that Rohit Sharma and Shikar Dhawan hit the English bowlers to all corners of the ground and achieved the target in a very calm and cool fashion.

The Foundation though was set up by the Indian bowlers who wreaked havoc over the English batters and bundled them out for a paltry 110, with the destroyer in chief being India's premier fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah who blew the English batsman away like nine pins and ended up with magnificent figures of 6-19 in an 8 over spell, which left the England batting completely bamboozled at the end of it.

"When you play in such conditions, you have to understand the assistance and have field placements accordingly. We knew our bowlers could swing the ball both ways and hence had that kind of field. Shikhar and I understand each other quite well, except for the first ball where there was that misjudgment. He is playing ODIs after a long time. We know what he brings to the table for us. Experienced player and he has done well for us in the past in these conditions. The hook is a high-risk shot, I understand that, but as long as it comes out right, I am happy," said Rohit Sharma after the completion of the game.

India's opening duo of Rohit Sharma and Shikhar on Tuesday completed 5,000 ODI runs as an opening pair. The duo achieved this landmark during the first ODI of the three-match series against England at the Kennington Oval on Tuesday where they took 12 deliveries to reach the milestone. With this record, the pair became the fourth duo in the world to achieve the milestone.

The first on the list is Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly with a total of 6,609 runs. They are followed by Australia's Adam Gilchrist and Mathew Hayden with 5,372 runs, and the pair of Desmond Haynes and Gordon Greenridge with 5,150 runs. Rohit and Dhawan have stitched 5108 runs so far as an opening pair.