Rohit, the successor to Tendulkar!

India captain Rohit Sharma (right) and Shubman Gill during their unbeaten 147-run stand v Nepal at Kandy on Monday. Pic/AFP

From the time Sachin Tendulkar opened the batting in ODIs in 1994, India have been fortunate to unearth combines adept at making the most of the field restrictions first up to get the team off to a cracking start. Most sides rely on a good base from which to tee off, but few are as dependent on a good start as India. First with Sourav Ganguly and then with Virender Sehwag, Tendulkar ensured that oftentimes, India's middle order walked into a solid platform.

Tendulkar's successor

In Rohit Sharma, India have found a wonderful successor to Tendulkar. Rohit's limited-overs careers had hit a rut when, in January 2013, Mahendra Singh Dhoni took one of his celebrated calculated punts and thrust the Mumbaikar to the top of the batting tree. Welcoming the fresh lease of life gleefully, Rohit has spent the last decade destroying the best of attacks with practiced nonchalance.

In Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit found a mirror-image kindred spirit. Also a right-left combination, Rohit and Dhawan amassed the second most runs by an Indian opening duo, their tally of 5,148 runs at 45.56 second only to Tendulkar and Ganguly (6,610 runs at 49.33).

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After a brief dalliance with KL Rahul, Rohit has had a new partner since the start of 2023. Shubman Gill has slotted wonderfully into the scheme of things, aiding and abetting his captain in taking oppositions down. In 10 matches this year, Rohit and Gill have stitched together 845 runs with three century stands and a best of 212, taking them past Tendulkar and Manoj Prabhakar as India's 11th most prolific opening alliance.

Dealing in boundaries

Monday night's unseparated 147-run partnership which muscled India to a 10-wicket victory over Nepal showcased how, using contrasting methods, Rohit and Gill can surge into the ascendancy. As Gill pointed out, he is more at home dealing in fours, while Rohit is an acknowledged six-hitter - only two men have slammed more sixes in ODI history - and they don't try to compete with one another, happy in their own spaces.

It is to this duo that India will look for solidity and flair as they mount a bid for a third World Cup crown next month. It's surely merely coincidental, but already in this Asia Cup, the value of the Rohit-Gill tandem has been obvious. When Rohit was first out in the fifth over with 16 on the board against Pakistan, India slumped to 66-4 before rallying to 266. Against a decidedly weaker Nepal attack handicapped further by a wet ball, they scored at more than seven to the over to reduce the non-contest to one-way traffic. India will be hoping for plenty of the latter and very few of the former over the next two and a half months.

845
Total number of runs put on by Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill for the opening wicket in 10 ODIs this year