India tour of Australia 2020-21

10 Jan 2021

On Day 4 of the ongoing 3rd Test in Sydney, Indian opening pair Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill put up a fifty-plus partnership in the 4th innings. Hence, the Sharma-Gill opening pair now has two fifty-plus stands, 70 and 71, in the same Test match.

By doing so, they have joined an elite list of subcontinent opening pairs, now a total of three, to have achieved this feat in Australia. The Sharma-Gill pair is the only second such opening pair to have put up fifty-plus stands in both of innings of Test in Australia.

Before Sharma and Gill, it was the opening pair of Syed Abid Ali and Farokh Engineer who had put up 1st wicket partnerships of 56 and 83 at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the 1967-68 India's tour of Australia.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Chandika Hathurasingha and Sanath Jayasuriya had achieved the same feat when they put up opening stands of 86 and 51 runs against Australia in Adelaide, in the year 1996.

The 21-year-old Shubman Gill, who had scored his maiden fifty in the previous innings of the Sydney Test, was dismissed on 31 by Josh Hazlewood, brining the 71-run partnership to an end. At Stumps Day 4, India were on 98/2 with Cheteshwar Pujara and Ajinkya Rahane unbeaten and 309 runs to win.