One of the prolific opening batting pair in the ODI format – Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, made sure to entertainment the fans before the microphones as well, when they had teamed up alongside Virender Sehwag in the commentary box during the opening match of the 2019 World Cup between South Africa and England.
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Calling the match in the Hindi language for the Star Sports Network, the trio turned back the pages of their international career books and engaged themselves and their countless fans in some funny on and off-the-field banters and stories from their playing days for the Indian team, while also making sure to pull each other’s leg whenever an opportunity arrived.
During the ‘Down memory lane’ segment, where they relived some of the priceless memories during their playing days, the network producer decided to play a compilation of some of the Sixes Tendulkar had hit against England during the 2011 World Cup match in Bengaluru.
Sachin Tendulkar once trolled Sourav Ganguly in the commentary box
In awe of Tendulkar’s seemingly effortless Sixes during the aforementioned match, Ganguly perhaps went a bit too far in praising the Master Blaster’s six-hitting ability, enough to hand Tendulkar an opportunity to troll him, with Sehwag too joining in the process.
‘Aise chakke aasani se aap kaise marte the. Ki khade khade chakke…Humko dus, barah, chowdah step age jana padta tha chakka marne ke liye. (How could you hit such big sixes so easily by standing at the crease. I had to take 10, 12, sometimes 14 steps to hit sixes),” Ganguly would remark on Tendulkar.
In reply, Tendulkar did not let go to the opportunity to troll his dear friend and remarked, “Dada, wicket sirf 22 yard hi hoti hai. (Dada (Ganguly) wicket is only made up of 22 yards….”
Sehwag quickly interjected Ganguly to remark, “10..12..14 Dada, itne step lete the aap? (10..12..14, Dada! You would take so many steps?)
In order to save himself from further embarrassment, Ganguly then quickly mentioned the score after the end of the Over to end the conversation.
Ganguly-Sachin partnership records in ODI
The duo still hold the record for the highest first-wicket partnership in ODIs for India – 258 runs versus Kenya in October 2001.
They also hold the record for stitching together most number of ODI century partnerships – 26, for any batting pair in the world. Additionally, having played together across 136 ODIs as openers, they hold the record for the highest opening partnership runs in a career – 6,609 runs at an average of 49.32.
Lastly, they are also placed right at the top in the list of batting pairs with highest partnership runs overall in their careers – 8,227 runs at an average of 47.55, across 176 innings from 1992-2007.
