An opening pair like no other!

For Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, it must have been like a lion's den. It was difficult discerning Motera from Colombo as a pro-Pakistani crowd welcomed India onto the field with their usual blend of colour and clatter.

Not only did the tension among the smattering of fans sporting blue jerseys feel palpable, there was also the external, and the more ruthless, pressure. The openers entered the fray knowing that cricket has been a constant casualty of India-Pakistan conflict over many decades. Garlands, if they won, and if not, an opportunity for thousands to heap humiliation.

Gill, having looked out of sorts and dismissed for a two-ball duck against Australia earlier this year that had reminded India of their competitive mortality, set the tone for proceedings. The opening boundary was a classic example of the Gill genre of batting: a sublime square cut sent racing across the rope.

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Shaheen Afridi, one of the most feared fast bowlers in modern-day cricket, returned to his mark, and, nearly several balls later, nipped one back that narrowly missed Gill's off-stump. An over later, it was Afridi again, as the scoreboard showed six additional runs, but this time it was captain Rohit Sharma at the crease. No amount of pace or spin could shake off this Indian pair.

Together, they stitched a 121-run partnership, with both players scoring half-centuries. The duo reached the 100-run mark in only 13.4 overs as Pakistan struggled to contain the onslaught by the newly minted pair.

The Rohit-Gill combination etched their names in the annals of cricket history, as it was the 13th occasion of an Indian opening pair contributing to a 100-run partnership against Pakistan. The century partnership also meant that India equalled Australia's all-time record for most 100+ stands by a team against Pakistan in history.

Only two days later, they became the fastest Indian pair to complete 1000 ODI partnership runs during their Asia Cup Super 4 encounter against Sri Lanka. The right-handed pair crossed the milestone mark with India reaching 36 for no loss after being put to bat first. They achieved the record in just their 13th innings together in this format, which placed them in rare company among all nations. Notably, Rohit held the same record with ‘fit-again' KL Rahul in the past, completing 1000 runs in overall 14 innings.

Having notched up 143 runs for the first wicket against the same opponents in January this year, Rohit-Gill have since reeled off three more 100+ partnerships, including two in succession at the Asia Cup.

As the World Cup is upon us, Rohit and Gill's impact at the top is not only significant for India. With each passing innings and the accumulation of century partnerships, their collaboration becomes the driving force behind India's quest for World Cup glory in 2023. Not only is their average - 91.3' runs per dismissal - the highest among openers with minimum 1000 runs in the format, their individual strike-rates are also enough to intimidate the opponents.

"I think his (Rohit's) targeted areas are a bit different to mine. He loves to go aerial in the Powerplay," Gill was quoted as saying by the ICC.

"And I'm someone who likes to find the gaps and keep getting those boundaries, and he's someone who likes to hit sixes. So I think that combination works well. He's someone who likes the other batters to go and just express himself and play the way I want to play the game. So in that nature, he gives the players full freedom for how they want to express their game," he added. This philosophy will be most tested in the 50-over World Cup if both Rohit and Gill are going hell for leather and the game situation dictates at least one of them throttle back.

Successful opening stands can be like long-standing marriages, with the two parties involved not having to be peas in a pod to work in perfect harmony. Every side requires a solid platform to build on at first, runs at the top lay foundations for what unfolds later in the game, no matter how they are scored.

Some partnerships dovetail perfectly, with one aggressor and the other accumulator, much like Rohit and Gill, where they can bank on each other to keep the opposition at bay as long as they are at the crease. Their exquisite dynamism and consistency at the top of India's one-day batting order have been the main reason behind India's No.1 rank in the format.

Coaches would argue that opening pairs ideally come as right and left-handed combinations to mess with the bowler's lines. However, Rohit and Gill are both right-handers but they mess with bowlers' lengths in neat fashion - Rohit being savage on anything wide of off-stump, while Gill is brutal with deliveries near leg-stump. Their collective power means they also scramble bowlers' minds, thus exuding fear among opponents more commonly attributed towards aggressive pacers than batsmen themselves.

With India successfully addressing their top-order instability, they advance to the 50-over cricket spectacle in pursuit of their first World Cup trophy since 2011. Should they achieve this feat, much credit will be attributed to the extraordinary opening partnership forged by Rohit and Gill, a duo that is reshaping ODI cricket through their unmatched performances.