One batsman, many partners

In the absence of both Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Dinesh Karthik opened the innings with Sachin Tendulkar in the round-robin match against Sri Lanka during the Compaq Cup. Karthik was the 19th opening partner Tendulkar has had since he began facing the new ball way back in 1994, against New Zealand in Auckland. Ajay Jadeja was his partner on that occasion. Can you fill in the names of Tendulkar's partners between then and now? If not, we've dug up the list of openers who have had the most partners in ODIs and Tests. Tendulkar is fifth in the first of our tables.

Tendulkar's 19 partners have been spread over 306 ODI innings but the other two batsmen with as many partners, Grant Flower and Gary Kirsten, had them across far fewer innings, 137 and 175 respectively. The names of Flower's partners rang a bell and most of Kirsten's were familiar apart from one: Gerhardus Liebenberg. He played four ODIs, the first against Zimbabwe in 1995 and the other three in England in 1998, and scored 94 runs. After him, Kirsten combined with Mark Boucher, Andrew Hall and Boeta Dippenaar, before Graeme Smith cemented his spot.

Tendulkar, however, will need four more opening partners to equal John Wright's record. Wright had 23 partners while opening for New Zealand in only 135 innings. His first partner was Robert Anderson, his last was Blair Hartland; his longest partner was also the one he scored the most runs with - Wright and Bruce Edgar added 1520 runs in 43 innings - but he had the best average with Martin Crowe - 58.40 in 10 innings. Apart from Edgar and Crowe, Geoff Howarth and Andrew Jones were the only other batsmen to open 10 or more times with Wright.

Batsmen who have had the most opening partners in ODIs

Player	Span	Inns	No. of partners		List
JG Wright (NZ)	1978-1992	135	23		RW Anderson, BA Edgar, GM Turner, JM Parker, GP Howarth, PN Webb, PE McEwan, JJ Crowe, JG Bracewell, RT Hart, KR Rutherford, EB McSweeney, MC Snedden, PA Horne, AH Jones, TE Blain, RB Reid, RH Vance, MD Crowe, RT Latham, MJ Greatbatch, AC Parore, BR Hartland
Saeed Anwar (Pak)	1989-2003	220	22		Moin-ul-Atiq, Javed Miandad, Shoaib Mohammad, Rameez Raja, Saleem Yousuf, Zahid Fazal, Aamer Sohail, Shahid Saeed, Asif Mujtaba, Shahid Anwar, Saleem Elahi, Shahid Afridi, Zahoor Elahi, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Mohammad Wasim, Wajahatullah Wasti, Ijaz Ahmed, Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Shoaib Malik, Taufeeq Umar
GW Flower (Zim)	1992-2004	137	19		A Flower, AC Waller, ADR Campbell, CN Evans, AH Omarshah, PA Strang, DL Houghton, MH Dekker, SV Carlisle, CB Wishart, GJ Rennie, NC Johnson, DA Marillier, TR Gripper, DD Ebrahim, MA Vermeulen, V Sibanda, T Taibu, BG Rogers
G Kirsten (SA)	1993-2003	175	19		AC Hudson, WJ Cronje, PN Kirsten, KC Wessels, DJ Callaghan, MJR Rindel, DJ Richardson, RP Snell, SJ Palframan, JH Kallis, HH Gibbs, AM Bacher, L Klusener, DJ Cullinan, GFJ Liebenberg, MV Boucher, AJ Hall, HH Dippenaar, GC Smith
SR Tendulkar (India)	1994-2009	306	19		A Jadeja, M Prabhakar, NS Sidhu, V Rathour, NR Mongia, S Somasunder, SC Ganguly, SV Manjrekar, WV Raman, S Ramesh, VVS Laxman, R Dravid, S Sriram, V Sehwag, PA Patel, G Gambhir, W Jaffer, RV Uthappa, KD Karthik
Rameez Raja (Pak)	1986-1997	125	18		Shoaib Mohammad, Younis Ahmed, Saleem Yousuf, Ijaz Ahmed, Mudassar Nazar, Mansoor Akhtar, Moin-ul-Atiq, Aamer Malik, Sajid Ali, Javed Miandad, Saeed Anwar, Aamer Sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Zahid Fazal, Shahid Saeed, Ghulam Ali, Saleem Elahi, Shahid Afridi
Shahid Afridi (Asia/Pak)	1996-2007	144	18		Saeed Anwar, Zahoor Elahi, Aamer Sohail, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Rameez Raja, Sajid Ali, Ijaz Ahmed, Saleem Elahi, Wajahatullah Wasti, Imran Nazir, Taufeeq Umar, Naved Latif, Shoaib Malik, Yasir Hameed, Salman Butt, V Sehwag, Mohammad Hafeez, Imran Farhat
CH Gayle (ICC/WI)	2000-2009	183	18		AFG Griffith, SL Campbell, LV Garrick, RL Powell, D Ganga, WW Hinds, S Chanderpaul, DS Smith, BC Lara, AC Gilchrist, XM Marshall, RR Sarwan, V Sehwag, RS Morton, S Chattergoon, MN Samuels, LMP Simmons, DJ Bravo
NJ Astle (NZ)	1995-2007	186	17		BA Young, MJ Greatbatch, CM Spearman, CL Cairns, MJ Horne, LG Howell, MD Bell, MN Hart, MS Sinclair, CJ Nevin, DL Vettori, SP Fleming, AC Parore, BB McCullum, L Vincent, PG Fulton, JM How
SC Ganguly (India)	1996-2007	236	17		SR Tendulkar, R Dravid, NS Sidhu, SS Karim, A Jadeja, GK Khoda, S Ramesh, MSK Prasad, DJ Gandhi, VVS Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, V Sehwag, D Mongia, PA Patel, Y Venugopal Rao, G Gambhir, RV Uthappa

While Wright's 23 partners in 135 innings could indicate that New Zealand changed openers too often during that period, his average of a new partner every six innings is far from being the worst. Bangladesh's Hannan Sarkar, for instance, had nine opening partners during his 20-ODI career, a new one every 2.22 innings.

Australia's Shane Watson has had a similar experience. He's opened in 23 innings so far and Tim Paine, the wicketkeeper who made his debut during the ongoing tour of England, was his eighth and newest partner. Before Paine, Watson had opened with Phil Jaques, Simon Katich, Adam Gilchrist, Matthew Hayden, Shaun Marsh, Brad Haddin, and David Warner.

Batsmen with the lowest ratio of innings to opening partners in ODIs (qualification: 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	No. of partners	I/N		List
Hannan Sarkar (Ban)	2002-2004	20	9	2.22		Al Sahariar, Javed Omar, Mohammad Ashraful, Khaled Mashud, Habibul Bashar, Nafees Iqbal, Moniruzzaman, Alok Kapali, Manjural Islam Rana
SR Watson (Aus)	2006-2009	23	8	2.87		PA Jaques, SM Katich, AC Gilchrist, ML Hayden, SE Marsh, BJ Haddin, DA Warner, TD Paine
G Fowler (Eng)	1983-1986	26	9	2.88		CJ Tavare, CL Smith, TA Lloyd, RT Robinson, MD Moxon, MW Gatting, PR Downton, DI Gower, GA Gooch
MD Crowe (NZ)	1990-1995	22	7	3.14		JG Wright, AH Jones, JJ Crowe, DJ White, RB Reid, BA Young, MJ Greatbatch
SAR Silva (SL)	1984-1985	20	6	3.33		S Wettimuny, JR Ratnayeke, DSBP Kuruppu, A Ranatunga, DM Vonhagt, PA de Silva
Mohammad Ashraful (Ban)	2001-2006	24	7	3.42		Al Sahariar, Hannan Sarkar, Mehrab Hossain, Javed Omar, Habibul Bashar, Rajin Saleh, Shahriar Nafees
JM Davison (Can)	2003-2009	21	6	3.50		I Maraj, DR Chumney, GEF Barnett, S Jyoti, AM Samad, Rizwan Cheema
IR Bell (Eng)	2004-2008	26	7	3.71		VS Solanki, MJ Prior, AJ Strauss, MP Vaughan, LJ Wright, AN Cook, RS Bopara
BM Laird (Aus)	1979-1982	23	6	3.83		RB McCosker, JM Wiener, GM Wood, J Dyson, WM Darling, RW Marsh
DD Ebrahim (Zim)	2001-2004	27	7	3.85		ADR Campbell, GW Flower, MA Vermeulen, CB Wishart, DA Marillier, CK Coventry, V Sibanda

The table below contains batsmen who had new opening partners least frequently during their careers. Gordon Greenidge played 128 ODIs and opened 120 times, with only five different batsmen. Out of those 120 innings, Greenidge opened 102 times with Desmond Haynes, scoring 5150 runs for the first wicket at an average of 52.55. Theirs was the highest opening-partnership aggregate in ODIs until they were overtaken by Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (6609), and then by Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden (5372).

If you've been keen enough to go through the lists of partners for Gilchrist and Sanath Jayasuriya, you've probably noticed Chris Gayle appearing in Gilchrist's and Virender Sehwag featuring in Jayasuriya's. Gilchrist opened with Gayle for the ICC World XI in the tsunami appeal match at the MCG in 2005. Their association did not last long because Gayle was dismissed in the second over with the score on 1. Jayasuriya and Sehwag opened for the Asia XI in the same match and fared better, adding 59 in 9.3 overs, although their team lost. Jayasuriya and Sehwag were paired against the new ball three more times, for the Asia XI in the Afro-Asia Cup in 2007.

Batsmen with the highest ratio of innings to opening partners in ODIs (qualification: 20 innings)

Player	Span	Inns	No. of partners	I/N		List
CG Greenidge (WI)	1975-1991	120	5	24.00		RC Fredericks, DL Haynes, RB Richardson, PV Simmons, CB Lambert
ST Jayasuriya (Asia/SL)	1993-2009	379	16	23.68		RS Mahanama, S Ranatunga, AP Gurusinha, UC Hathurusingha, RS Kaluwitharana, MS Atapattu, DA Gunawardene, PA de Silva, KC Sangakkara, WS Jayantha, V Sehwag, WU Tharanga, J Mubarak, MDK Perera, TM Dilshan, BSM Warnapura
RS Kaluwitharana (SL)	1991-2004	112	5	22.40		CP Senanayake, ST Jayasuriya, RS Mahanama, DA Gunawardene, MS Atapattu
Junaid Siddique (Ban)	2007-2009	20	1	20.00		Tamim Iqbal
AC Gilchrist (Aus/ICC)	1998-2008	259	13	19.92		ME Waugh, RT Ponting, DS Lehmann, DR Martyn, ML Hayden, JP Maher, SM Katich, BJ Haddin, MJ Clarke, CH Gayle, SR Watson, MEK Hussey, JR Hopes
DL Haynes (WI)	1978-1994	237	12	19.75		RA Austin, CG Greenidge, LG Rowe, SFAF Bacchus, AI Kallicharran, RS Gabriel, RB Richardson, CA Best, PV Simmons, PJL Dujon, PA Wallace, BC Lara
DC Boon (Aus)	1986-1995	118	7	16.85		WB Phillips, GR Marsh, MA Taylor, TM Moody, ML Hayden, MJ Slater, GS Blewett
HH Gibbs (SA)	1996-2009	179	11	16.27		G Kirsten, AM Bacher, LJ Koen, L Klusener, DJ Cullinan, MJR Rindel, HH Dippenaar, ND McKenzie, GC Smith, AJ Hall, HM Amla
SR Tendulkar (India)	1994-2009	306	19	16.10		A Jadeja, M Prabhakar, NS Sidhu, V Rathour, NR Mongia, S Somasunder, SC Ganguly, SV Manjrekar, WV Raman, S Ramesh, VVS Laxman, R Dravid, S Sriram, V Sehwag, PA Patel, G Gambhir, W Jaffer, RV Uthappa, KD Karthik
NV Knight (Eng)	1996-2003	92	6	15.33		AJ Stewart, MA Atherton, AD Brown, VJ Wells, N Hussain, ME Trescothick

Saeed Anwar is the only batsman to appear in the top three for having the most opening partners in both formats - 22 in one-dayers and 17 in Tests. Anwar opened with Taufeeq Umar, Abdul Razzaq, Saleem Elahi, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Wasim, Wajahatullah Wasti, Shahid Afridi, Azhar Mahmood, Ijaz Ahmed, Zahoor Elahi, Aamer Sohail and Shoaib Mohammad in both Tests and ODIs. In addition to that, he opened with Basit Ali, Shakeel Ahmed jnr, Shadab Kabir, Ali Naqvi and Naved Ashraf in Tests, and with Moin-ul-Atiq, Javed Miandad, Ramiz Raja, Saleem Yousuf, Zahid Fazal, Shahid Saeed, Asif Mujtaba, Shahid Anwar, Imran Farhat and Shoaib Malik in one-day internationals.

Anwar's most successful pairing was with Sohail. They opened 73 times in ODIs, racking up 2856 runs - a Pakistan record - at an average of 39. In 37 Test innings, Anwar and Sohail added 1563 runs at 44.65 and are in second place behind Pakistan's most prolific pair, Mohsin Khan and Mudassar Nazar.

Another Pakistan batsman, Shahid Afridi, is third on the list of batsmen who have had the most opening partners in the fewest innings. Afridi's opened in 24 innings with nine different partners - a new one every 2.66 innings on average. His first was Sohail in 1998 and his last was Salman Butt in 2005. Afridi hasn't opened since.

Batsmen with the lowest ratio of innings to opening partners in Tests (qualification: 20 innings)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	No. of partners	I/N		List
J Darling (Aus)	1896-1905	15	24	10	2.40		H Donnan, CJ Eady, FA Iredale, JJ Lyons, CE McLeod, MA Noble, J Worrall, VT Trumper, H Trumble, RA Duff
Rev.DS Sheppard (Eng)	1952-1963	15	22	9	2.44		L Hutton, RT Simpson, TE Bailey, PE Richardson, G Pullar, MC Cowdrey, JT Murray, R Illingworth, KF Barrington
Shahid Afridi (Pak)	1998-2005	15	24	9	2.66		Aamer Sohail, Saeed Anwar, Wajahatullah Wasti, Naved Ashraf, Saleem Elahi, Taufeeq Umar, Imran Nazir, Yasir Hameed, Salman Butt
CJ Barnett (Eng)	1934-1938	12	21	7	3.00		CF Walters, AE Fagg, TS Worthington, H Verity, L Hutton, C Washbrook, WJ Edrich
MJ Greatbatch (NZ)	1992-1995	11	21	7	3.00		RT Latham, BR Hartland, JG Wright, AH Jones, BA Pocock, BA Young, RG Twose
RES Wyatt (Eng)	1930-1935	17	24	8	3.00		G Gunn, M Leyland, WR Hammond, HW Lee, H Sutcliffe, DR Jardine, DCH Townsend, D Smith
HW Taylor (SA)	1912-1928	21	34	11	3.09		GPD Hartigan, LJ Tancred, PAM Hands, JW Zulch, TA Ward, RH Catterall, JMM Commaille, JP Duminy, IJ Siedle, JFW Nicolson, SK Coen
CA Roach (WI)	1928-1935	15	28	9	3.11		G Challenor, ELG Hoad, EAC Hunte, RK Nunes, LS Birkett, FR Martin, LN Constantine, IM Barrow, GM Carew
WG Grace (Eng)	1880-1899	22	35	11	3.18		EM Grace, RG Barlow, AN Hornby, AP Lucas, WH Scotton, R Abel, J Shuter, A Shrewsbury, AE Stoddart, Hon.FS Jackson, CB Fry
RJ Shastri (India)	1982-1992	17	26	8	3.25		SM Gavaskar, DB Vengsarkar, SV Nayak, M Prabhakar, K Srikkanth, NS Sidhu, WV Raman, A Jadeja

Justin Langer, on the other hand, had only two opening partners in his 105-Test career. In his second match, Langer opened for the first time with David Boon against West Indies at the WACA in 1993 and scored 10 and 1. He spent most of the following years at No. 3 or on the sidelines and returned to open, with Matthew Hayden, only in the fifth Ashes Test at The Oval in 2001. Langer celebrated by scoring 102. He opened and scored 104 in the first innings against New Zealand in Brisbane a few months later but Gilchrist took his spot in the second as Australia pursued quick runs. Langer returned to face the new ball at Hobart and reeled off another century, and opened in every innings since then until he retired in 2007.

Hayden was Langer's opening partner for 113 innings and they added 5655 runs for the first wicket at 51.88. It's the second highest Test aggregate for an opening pair after Greenidge and Haynes' 6482 at 47.31.

Batsmen with the highest ratio of innings to opening partners in Tests (qualification: 20 innings)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	No. of partners	I/N		List
JL Langer (Aus)	1993-2007	65	115	2	57.50		DC Boon, ML Hayden
CG Greenidge (WI)	1974-1991	107	182	4	45.50		RC Fredericks, DL Murray, DL Haynes, RB Richardson
AJ Strauss (Eng)	2004-2009	64	117	3	39.00		ME Trescothick, AN Cook, IR Bell
AN Cook (Eng)	2006-2009	41	75	2	37.50		AJ Strauss, MP Vaughan
ME Trescothick (Eng)	2000-2006	76	142	4	35.50		MA Atherton, MA Butcher, MP Vaughan, AJ Strauss
RB Simpson (Aus)	1960-1967	38	70	2	35.00		CC McDonald, WM Lawry
DL Haynes (WI)	1978-1994	116	201	6	33.50		CG Greenidge, SFAF Bacchus, RB Richardson, PV Simmons, PJL Dujon, CA Best
MJ Slater (Aus)	1993-2001	74	131	4	32.75		MA Taylor, ML Hayden, MTG Elliott, GS Blewett
AFG Griffith (WI)	1997-2000	14	27	1	27.00		SL Campbell
ML Hayden (Aus)	1994-2009	103	184	7	26.28		MJ Slater, MA Taylor, JL Langer, AC Gilchrist, MEK Hussey, PA Jaques, SM Katich
AD Gaekwad (India)	1976-1984	30	50	2	25.00		SM Gavaskar, NS Sidhu
HH Gibbs (SA)	1998-2008	68	116	5	23.20		G Kirsten, HH Dippenaar, GC Smith, AB de Villiers, AJ Hall
GR Marsh (Aus)	1985-1992	50	91	4	22.75		DC Boon, GM Ritchie, PL Taylor, MA Taylor
MH Dekker (Zim)	1993-1996	14	22	1	22.00		GW Flower
GS Blewett (Aus)	1999-2000	13	22	1	22.00		MJ Slater
ST Jayasuriya (SL)	1994-2007	89	152	7	21.71		RS Mahanama, UC Hathurusingha, RP Arnold, MS Atapattu, KC Sangakkara, WU Tharanga, MG Vandort
EDAS McMorris (WI)	1958-1966	13	21	1	21.00		CC Hunte
MA Taylor (Aus)	1989-1999	104	186	9	20.66		GR Marsh, DC Boon, MRJ Veletta, WN Phillips, TM Moody, MJ Slater, MTG Elliott, ML Hayden, ME Waugh