The bond of friendship between the two legends of Indian Cricket – Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar, is quite well-versed with the followers of Indian Cricket.
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The duo had befriended at quite a young age off-the-field, and which continued for several years on the field as well for India as their partnership till date, especially in ODIs is second to none in numbers.
In the ODI format, the Sachin-Ganguly duo hold the record for highest overall partnership runs by a pair, the highest overall partnership runs by an opener, and even that of the most hundred partnerships by a pair.
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From 1992-2007, the duo had scored 8,227 runs across 176 innings together at an average of 47.55, which includes 29 half-centuries and 26 centuries.
Opening the innings together, they have batted a total of 136 times, while amassing 6,609 runs at an average of 49.32.
Even in Tests, the Sachin-Ganguly partnership yielded 12 century stands for team India, having put on over 4,000 runs together, with the highest partnership of 281 runs.
Sourav Ganguly was once terrified of Sachin Tendulkar’s sleepwalking habit
Going on to play together for over decade-and-a-half for team India, Tendulkar and Ganguly had met each other for the first time at a junior camp in the 1980s.
While Tendulkar made his international debut in the year 1989, Ganguly did so in 1992, but only cemented his place in the side in 1996.
During one of the tours of England, the Master Blaster’s sleepwalking habit had scared Ganguly no end, pertaining which he revealed during a chat show – Breakfast with Champions, hosted by Gaurav Kapur.
“...Main na uth ke baith gaya ki ye karta kya hai raat to 01:00-01:30 baje! Aise na room me ghumta hai, ghoom ghoom ke chair pe baithta hai, baith ke phir aake baju me so jaata hai. Maine usko agle din kaha ki yaar tu to dara raha hai mujhe. Tu kar kya raha hai raat ko. ‘Nai nai mai raat ko chalta hoon neend mein’. To usko yeh aadat thi raat ko neend mein chalne ki. (So I woke up and sat thinking, what does he do at 01.30 in the night. He takes a round in the room and then sits on the chair, come and then sleeps next to me. So next day I told him, ‘you’re scaring me, what do you do at night?’ He said ‘No, I walk while sleeping’…He had this habit of sleepwalking),” remarked Ganguly after noticing Tendulkar sleepwalking for the second continuous night.
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