Ro-Ko show in Sydney, with records tumbling

What makes Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli, or any of the great batting pairs, click? The most crucial ingredient in this chemistry is understanding each other

It was a dead rubber, but it was yesterday again. And all of India’s batting troubles seemed far away as two ageing maestros, in the twilight of their careers, dominated the stage, turning their bats into magic wands and taking India to an easy win against Australia on Saturday. A sea of Indians had arrived at the Sydney Cricket Ground, aware that this was most likely the last chance to witness a Rohit Sharma-Virat Kohli tango in Australia. And they were served a feast by two of India’s one-day greats. The Ro-Ko combine stitched together an unbeaten partnership of 168 runs for the second wicket, their 12th stand of 150-plus runs going level with the legendary pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly. Ro-Ko partnerships have so far yielded 5,483 runs in 101 innings, the second-highest by an Indian pair after Tendulkar and Ganguly, who have scored an ODI record of 8,227 runs batting together.

Sydney on Saturday indicated that Ro-Ko are not finished yet, and fans are likely to see them bat at least until the 2027 World Cup in South Africa (REUTERS)

So what makes Ro-Ko, or any of the great batting pairs, click? The most crucial ingredient in this chemistry is understanding each other. Sharma and Kohli’s partnerships came to the limelight during the 2013-14 white-ball home series against Australia. In that series, Sharma emerged as the highest scorer with 491 runs, and Kohli was third with 344 runs. For such partnerships to work, a clear understanding of each other’s game is a must. The partners need to know who should attack which bowler, and when.

Sydney indicated that Ro-Ko are not finished yet and fans are likely to see them bat at least until the 2027 World Cup in South Africa. That’s a challenge both batsmen will relish, though it is no easy task to maintain match fitness when so little game time is available to them, as this is the only format in which they play international matches.