Awesome Twosome, but who after?

Scene 1 – Lord’s, 2002. ODI - India were struggling chasing a record 300 plus target. A great English player of the past who was commenting then said – ‘If I had to pick two batsmen in the world who can do this, it would be these two and no one else’.

Scene 2 – Lord’s, 2011, Test – India were struggling again under overcast swinging conditions, arguably facing the most potent bowling attack. Same two at the crease, and a famous site quoted – ‘This is what cricket is all about, folks’. How true?

On both these occasions, these two have only provided glimpses of their true might, but on most occasions, there was no one else that India could look up to. I write this, days after these two have become the most successful batting partnerships in test match history passing the great West Indian pair of Greenidge and Haynes. They already hold the record for the most hundred partnerships by a pair in test cricket. Some numbers for the statistics lovers – these two have contributed close to 57000 of their country’s international run count in the last 20 odd years. And, a staggering 10600 runs have come while batting with each other.

No points for guessing, Rahul Sharad Dravid, and Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar are easily the best batting partnerships of the past 15-20 years. Some of the few pairs who come very close are - Mahela and Sanga, Hayden and Ponting, Inzamam and Yousuf, Hayden and Langer, and Dravid again with Laxman. But Sachin and Rahul have done it all. They have held their own against the best of the attacks – Wasim and Waqar, McGrath and Warne, Murali and Vaas, Pollock and Donald and to some extent, Ambrose and Walsh. For most part of their careers, they have played under enormous scoreboard pressure (India two down for nothing, after the opposition amassing a huge score). And these two complement their games enormously well even though the foundation for both is solid technique.

One cannot imagine an Indian batting line-up without these two. No one would have proven the old cliché ‘Form is temporary but class is permanent’ more than these two gentlemen. Dravid’s glorious revival has meant that true batting lovers will have at least a year more to watch these two together in whites.

But, the burning question is - Who after? Not just in Indian cricket, but also in the international arena. Sadly, there is not much on the canvas. In this era of T20 free-lancers, who can showcase true batting for years to come? Very few current pairs come to mind – Bell and Trott for England, de Villiers and Amla for SA, and Sehwag and Gambhir for India to name a few. And especially in case of India, it would be foolish to expect someone to replace the golden era, but I firmly believe two of Pujara, Rahane and Kohli would keep the Indian batting flag flying high. As for other nations, Shaun Marsh and Usman Khawaja can go long for the Aussies.

Flatter pitches, weaker bowling attacks and lesser test cricket would do no good to offer quality batting. To sum it up, if someone questions my era, I would say I grew up watching cricket in the Sachin-Rahul era, but I wonder what the younger lot has to say.