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Partnerships are looked upon as an essential part of modern day cricket, be it for batting or bowling. Gone are the days when a team could depend upon a single player to win the game for them. Bowling partnerships are as important as batting partnerships. It allows a team to have good coordination among the bowlers and apply pressure from both the ends of the 22yard pitch. Although, considering the batting-obsessed-viewership these days, these things are often neglected, but the bowlers play an important role in determining the outcome of the match.
Here’s a list of top 5 bowling partnerships in modern cricket.
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When it comes to deadly fast bowling who can forget the name of these two gentlemen who used to send shivers down the batsmen’s spines whenever they came to bowl. In an era, when idea of defeating Australia was almost revolting, these two became the essential cogs of the Australian line up. They shared 170 wickets between them during a span of 47 tests with an impressive average of 23.02.
This was another deadly combination of pace and accuracy which gave no respite to batsmen across the world.
The best part about this pair was their ability to complement each other. If one could survive the scare of Lee, he would surely fall into trap of McGrath and vice-versa. These partners in crime had 228 wickets in their name at an average of almost 24 with a strike rate of 50.26.
These two have dominated proceedings in a period where batsmen have dictated terms largely. It is quite an anomaly in today’s cricketing arena. Dale Steyn with 272 wickets and Morne Morkel with his fair share of 191 wickets in tests form a seriously strong bowling pair with a combined average of 25.38 and a strike rate of 48.40.
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via Imago
Indian cricketers Harbhajan Singh (L) and Anil Kumble were one of the best Indian bowling partnerships
Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh
The first spin combination on this list, Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh shared 501 wickets in just 99 innings with their bouncy mix of skiddy leg-breaks, top-spinners, and crafty jagging off-spin. In all, they took over 1000 Test wickets between them. Kumble is also sixth on the ODI list, sharing 453 wickets with Javagal Srinath.
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The highest current pairing on the list, with power to add: James Anderson and Stuart Broad have so far taken 519 wickets in 124 innings together – most, but not quite all, as a new-ball partnership. It’s still a bit of a shock to realise that the baby-faced Broad has already racked up 264 Test wickets, a number exceeded by only five other England bowlers (including Anderson, 380 in 99 matches to date).