Cricket is one of the most famous sports in the world. The explosive stroke play in the power plays has its charm. The edge-of-the-seat chases result in electrifying games for the view of the match. As we all know opening partnership is the foundation of the innings, whenever the openers score quick runs, the scorecard will reach its peak because the opening pair leads from the front and bat according to the pitch situation to score runs.
Most cricketing fans love to watch batting by themselves and if the same player scores a century or plays incredible innings for his team, the excitement level will be on another level and it doesn’t matter whether it is T20, Test, or ODI. As we all know cricket is a team sport and requires significant poise from players, especially the long format like One Day International, where both teams get limited overs to show their team spirit by amassing runs on the scorecard.
ODI is the time-taking format where the opening batsman comes to open the innings, plays according to their skills, and builds up an amazing partnership, unlike the T20 format, where opening batsmen start attacking from the word go. The highest opening partnership in ODI has numerous records because good partnerships are essential for the ODI format as they shift the momentum towards the batting side and give confidence to the following players. Now let’s look at the highest opening partnership in ODI of all time.
List of Top 10 Highest Opening Partnerships in ODI
The opening partnership is the foundation if a team scores well and gives bowlers sufficient total to defend. Just like it happened in the ODI format for the first wicket partnership. Down there look at the list of top 10 highest opening partnerships of all time in ODI.
| Partners | Runs | Team | Opposition | Ground | Match Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Campbell & Shai Hope | 365 | West Indies | vs Ireland | Dublin | 5 May 2019 |
| Imam-ul-Haq & Fakhar Zaman | 304 | Pakistan | vs Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 20 Jul 2018 |
| Tamim Iqbal & Litton Das | 292 | Bangladesh | vs Zimbabwe | Sylhet | 6 Mar 2020 |
| Upul Tharanga & Sanath Jayasuriya | 286 | Sri Lanka | vs England | Leeds | 1 Jul 2006 |
| David Warner & Travis Head | 284 | Australia | vs Pakistan | Adelaide | 26 Jan 2017 |
| QDK & Hasim Amla | 282* | South Africa | vs Bangladesh | Kimberley | 15 Oct 2017 |
| Upul Tharanga & Tillakarantne Dilshan | 282 | Sri Lanka | vs Zimbabwe | Pallekele | 10 Mar 2011 |
| James Marshall & Brendon McCullum | 274 | New Zealand | vs Ireland | Aberdeen | 1 Jul 2008 |
| Travis Head & David Warner | 269 | Australia | vs England | Melbourne | 22 Nov 2022 |
| David Warner & Mitchell Marsh | 259 | Australia | vs Pakistan | Bengaluru | 20 Oct 2023 |
Players With Highest Opening Partnership In ODI
1 – John Campbell & Shai Hope
JD Campbell and SD Hope’s opening partnership is known for setting a world record in ODI cricket. The match accomplished this surprising deed by playing for West Indies against Ireland in 2019, by scoring a mammoth 365. Their impressive batting breaks all the records in the history of cricket, especially in the ODI format, where Campbell contributed 179 runs in just 137 balls, and on the other side, Hope scored 170 runs in 152 balls.
2 – Imam-ul-Haq & Fakhar Zaman
Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar Zaman hold the record for the most noteworthy first-wicket partnership in ODI cricket. This record-breaking partnership happened on July 20, 2018. The combine put up a dazzling 304-run partnership for the first wicket against Zimbabwe in the 4th ODI of the bilateral series. Fakhar Zaman played an extraordinary knock, scoring 210*, making him the sole Pakistani batsman to score a double century in ODIs. Imam-ul-Haq supported him brilliantly with a strong innings of 113.
3 – Tamim Iqbal & Litton Das
Tamim Iqbal and Litton Das are regarded as the record holders for the highest opening partnership in ODI. The pair achieved the milestone on 6th March 2020 against Zimbabwe during the match in Harare. In the match, both scored a brilliant 292 runs for the first wicket partnership, where Litton Das scored a fabulous 176 runs and Tamim contributed with 158 to win the match for their team.
4 – Upul Tharanga & Sanath Jayasuriya
WU Tharanga and ST Jayasuriya hold the record for the most noteworthy first-wicket partnership in ODI cricket and this record-breaking partnership happened on 1st July 2006. Both batters scored a 286-run partnership for the first wicket against England. Tharanga played an extraordinary knock, scoring 109, and with him, Jayasuriya on the other hand supported brilliantly with a strong innings of 152.
5 – David Warner & Travis Head
David Warner and Travis Head scored a marvelous 284-run partnership against Pakistan on 26th January 2017. This score is added to the list of highest partnership runs in ODI cricket where both the batter have shown their skills and put up a competitive total for the team. David Warner has scored a brilliant 178 runs in 128 balls and Travis Head has scored 128 runs in just 137 balls.
6 – Quinton de Kock & Hasim Amla
Quinton de Kock and Hasim Amla are the record holders for the highest-opening partnership in ODI. The pair achieved the milestone on 15th October 2017 vs Bengal Tigers (Bangladesh). In the match, both batters scored a brilliant 282 runs for the first wicket partnership, where Quinton de Kock scored 168 runs and Amla contributed with 110 to win the match for the team while chasing.
7 – Upul Tharanga & Tillakaratne Dilshan
Tharanga and (Scoop King) Dilshan’s first-wicket partnership is one of the world records in ODI cricket. The match accomplished this surprising deed by playing for Sri Lanka against Zimbabwe in 2011, scoring a great partnership of 282 runs. Their impressive batting breaks all the records in the history of cricket, especially in the ODI format, where Dilshan contributed 144 runs in just 131 balls, and on the other side, Tharanga scored 133 runs in 141 balls.
8 – James Marshall & Brendon McCullum
Marshall and McCullum scored the highest opening partnership in the ODI. The destructive batters achieved the record against Ireland in 2008. In this match, both scored a glorious 274 runs for the first wicket partnership, where McCullum scored an outstanding 166 runs, and Marshall also played a stellar innings of 161 runs.
9 – Travis Head & David Warner
Another worth-watching partnership that happened in Melbourne during the match between Australia vs England in 2022. David Warner and Travis Head are at their highest peak and again they repeated history and registered their name in the highest opening partnership in ODI for the second time by scoring 269 runs against England.
10 – David Warner & Mitchell Marsh
David Warner is now known as the record holder for the first wicket partnership in the ODI, where he entered the list 3 times. They stitched a record partnership of 259 runs against Pakistan in the ODI World Cup 2023. Warner scored an incredible 163 runs with 14 fours and 9 sixes and on the other side, Marsh scored 121 runs with the help of 10 fours and 9 sixes.
Read More: Best Bowling Figures in ODI Cricket History || Most Runs in ODI 2023
Last But Not The Least: Highest Opening Partnership In ODI
The highest Opening Partnership in ODI is a bunch of records, which would not be easy to forget because the openers have shown their extraordinary talents and great skills to achieve this record in an individual match. There are still many players from the list who are paying for their nation and some are retired from the cricket but their names would never fade away from the records.
