Rohit Sharma And KL Rahul Stitch India's Highest Opening Stand Since Trent Bridge 2007

Indian openers Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul have helped the visiting team notch up their longest opening stand outside Asia after a gap of 14 years.

Having shot out England for a mere 183 on the opening day of the first Test in Nottingham, the onus was on the duo of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul to negate the threat of the English seamers and provide the tourists an ideal platform for their middle order.

The duo saw off the tricky phase of 13 overs in the closing stages of the first day and they have picked off from where they had left on the previous evening to negate the threat in the morning session.

The duo stitched 97 runs for the first wicket in 37.3 overs which happens to be India’s highest opening stand in Tests outside Asia.

The last time an Indian opening pair stitched more runs in an overseas Test match, it was at the same venue- Trent Bridge- 14 years ago when the duo of Dinesh Karthik and Wasim Jaffer racked up 147 runs after India had shot England down for 198.

This is now India's longest opening partnership in 14 years in Tests outside Asia since Wasim Jaffer & Dinesh Karthik's 147-run stand in Trent Bridge in 2007 which lasted 42.1 overs.#ENGvIND

— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) August 5, 2021

In that game, India went on to post in excess of 400 to set up a series-winning seven-wicket win.

Opening the innings has been India’s nemesis in SENA countries, especially in England, in the past decade.

Before this Test match, the visitors had managed just 3 50+ stands in 28 innings in England since the start of the 2011 series.

Interestingly, India managed a 50+ stand in Trent Bridge during the 2018 tour and they ended up winning the Test match- the only game they won during that five-match series.

But just as it looked that India will finally stitch a 100-run stand for the first time outside Asia after 14 years, Rohit Sharma once again fell in the 30s as he ended up pulling Ollie Robinson straight to backward square leg to give England a much-needed breakthrough at the stroke of Lunch.

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