This week in our stats series Did You Know? where we present well known and lesser-known facts on a theme, we look at partnership records and trivia. (All numbers are from men’s matches only.)
32,039 The total number of partnership runs Rahul Dravid was part of in his 286 innings, the most by a batsman. Sachin Tendulkar is next with 31,245 runs in 329 innings. Steven Smith has the highest average partnership runs per innings – 115.90 (15,185 runs in 131 innings). Partnerships involving Ricky Ponting have had the highest average runs – 52.83 (27,105 runs in 513 partnerships).
771 The total number of partnerships Shivnarine Chanderpaul was involved in his Test career, the most by a batsman. He batted with 83 different partners, which is nine more than any other batsman. He watched 507 dismissals of his partners from the other end when batting, which is also the most by any batsman.
88 Number of century partnerships Dravid was involved in, the most in Tests. Tendulkar follows him closely with 86 century stands, while Ponting has 85. Dravid was involved in 20-century partnerships with Tendulkar, the most between a pair. He shared 12 such stands with VVS Laxman and ten each with Sourav Ganguly and Virender Sehwag, making him the only batsman to have shared ten or more century partnerships with four different players. Among active cricketers, Joe Root leads with 46 partnerships of 100-plus runs, while Steven Smith and David Warner have 41 such partnerships each.
20 Number of double-century stands Jacques Kallis was involved in – the most among all batsmen. Tendulkar is next with 18 such partnerships and Ponting had 17. Kallis shared six double-century partnerships with Hashim Amla, the joint-most between a pair along with Matthew Hayden and Justin Langer. Among current batsmen, Virat Kohli has been involved in most 200-plus stands – nine.
5 The most triple-century partnerships a batsman has been involved in – Don Bradman and Graeme Smith both have five each. The most triple-century stands by a pair are three, by two South Africa duos: Herschelle Gibbs and Smith, and Jacques Kallis and Hashim Amla. Bradman, Mahela Jayawardene, and Kumar Sangakkara are the only batsmen to each be involved in two 400-plus-run partnerships.
90 The most Tests played together by a pair who never batted together: Sanath Jayasuriya and Muttiah Muralitharan played 90 Tests with each other, but never had the opportunity to share a partnership. Next on the list are Gibbs and Makhaya Ntini, who never batted together in the 64 Tests they played together.
