Dhawan-Sharma become first pair with three century partnerships in Champions Trophy

The India-Pakistan match on the 4 of June saw Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma become the first pair to put up three-century partnerships in the Champions Trophy. They put together a 136-run partnership for the 1 wicket in the match which saw them achieve this feat. The other two century stands came in the 2013 edition where the Indian side emerged victorious.

Dhawan was the first one to fall in the partnership when at the score of 68 he chipped one to Azhar Ali at deep mid-wicket. Sharma continued to play till the score of 91 until he was caught short of the crease by captain Sarfraz Khan. With this partnership, Dhawan took his total tally of century stands in CT to four equalling the record of Kumar Sangakkara, Chris Gayle, and Sourav Ganguly. It is interesting to note that Dhawan whose contribution to the Indian side has been speculated all over the recent years has been involved in all century partnerships of the team in this competition since 2004.

This stand also marked the third time the pair of Dhawan and Rohit have put up a century partnership in back to back matches. Their last match together was in January 2016 when India toured Australia for a 5 match ODI series and the former could win only the last match out of the five.

Ricky Ponting and Shane Watson put up a 252 run partnership for the second at the Centurion in the 2009 tournament which is the highest partnership in the CT for any wicket. Virender Sehwag and Sourav Ganguly hold the record for the best partnership of an Indian pair with their stand of 192 against England in Colombo 2002.