Many cricketers have donned whites for their countries in Test cricket, leaving behind a grand legacy.
A few of them forged great camaraderie with their fellow countrymen, playing hundreds of matches in tandem.
Here we’ll look at the top 5 pairs of cricketers who played the most Test matches together.
5. Alastair Cook & James Anderson (England) | 130 Tests
Alastair Cook and James Anderson are fifth on this list, as the duo played 130 Test matches together for England. 49 of those matches came under the captaincy of Cook between 2012 and 2016.
In their 12-year stay together, Cook contributed 9729 runs, and Anderson picked up 523 wickets.
4. Rahul Dravid & VVS Laxman (India) | 132 Tests
Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman made their Test debuts for India in the same year (1996) and played their last Test in the same match in 2012.
In these 16 years, the batting duo appeared in 132 Test matches together, forming a solid partnership for India. Dravid and Laxman batted in 86 innings together, scoring 4065 partnership runs.
In the 2001 Eden Gardens Test, both batters stitched together a 376-run stand to turn the tables on Australia and help India win the match after following on.
3. Jacques Kallis & Mark Boucher (South Africa) | 136 Tests
The South African duo of Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher find their names at the third spot. The all-rounder and wicketkeeper pair played 136 Test matches together for the Proteas.
Kallis and Boucher amassed 1136 runs in 32 innings they batted in tandem, while both were involved in 69 dismissals as a bowler-wicketkeeper combination — the third best for South Africa in Tests.
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2. James Anderson & Stuart Broad (England) | 138 Tests
The English pair of James Anderson and Stuart Broad is second on this list. The English seamers partnered in 138 Test matches for England.
In 138 Tests, the duo troubled batters with their swing and scalped 1039 wickets — the most by a bowling pair in red-ball cricket. Both pacers bowed out of Test cricket as the top-wicket takers for England, with Anderson taking 704 wickets and Broad grabbing 604 scalps.
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1. Sachin Tendulkar & Rahul Dravid (India) | 146 Tests
The duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid hold the record for playing the most Test matches together. Both batters featured in 146 Tests together for India.
The pair set foot together for the first time on July 4, 1996, and went on to accumulate a whopping 6920 runs in 146 Tests until Dravid’s last match on January 24, 2012.
The 6920 partnership runs scored by the Master Blaster and The Wall are the most by a pair in Test cricket. It also included 20 century and 29 fifty partnerships.
