India vs Australia 2nd ODI: Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma become second Indian opening pair to reach this ODI landmark

India vs Australia 2nd ODI: Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan became only the fourth opening pair in the history of one-day internationals to complete 4000 partnership runs.

Rohit Sharma and Shikhar Dhawan have together played a big role in helping Indian become one of the top ODI teams in the world over the past 5 years and the duo continue to break new ground together. On Tuesday the pair gave India a flying start in the second ODI against Australia at Adelaide, putting together 47 runs as the team chased a tough target of 299 runs.

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma (R) and Shikhar Dhawan runs between the wickets during the one day international (ODI) Asia Cup cricket match between Hong Kong and Indian at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai on September 18, 2018. (AFP)

While doing so Rohit and Dhawan became only the fourth opening pair in the history of one-day internationals to complete 4000 partnership runs. They thus became the second India pair after Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly to reach the milestone.

The duo reached the milestone when India’s score was 9 for no loss. Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly occupy the top spot among ODI openers with 6609 runs from 136 innings. The legendary Indian duo is followed by the destructive Aussie pair of Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden who put together 5372 runs in 114 innings.

The third spot belongs to the original rockstars of one-day international cricket. The hugely successful West Indian opening pair of Gordon Greenidge and Desmond Haynes have 5150 runs under their belt from just 102 innings. Rohit and Dhawan are indeed in elite company here and the duo still have a lot of cricket left in them and will look to dislodge Tendulkar and Ganguly from the perch if they keep going at this rate.