Virat Kohli-KL Rahul, and other high 3rd-wicket partnerships after losing first two wickets below 15

KL Rahul and Virat Kohli shared a partnership of 164 for the third wicket after India lost its first two wickets for 12 runs in the first innings of Colombo test. Bharath Seervi lists the highest partnerships for third wicket after two quick wickets for teams in tests. READ: Virat Kohli, India Test captain must step up

India had a bad start to the second Test after losing the first Test by 63 runs. Murali Vijay replaced the injured Shikhar Dhawan, and was out for a duck in the fourth ball of the Test. To the surprise of all and sundry, Ajinkya Rahane came in to bat at No. 3 instead of Rohit Sharma — the man who Virat Kohli seems to be backing ahead of Cheteshwar Pujara. Rahane did not last long either, and was out for four in the fifth over. Both wickets went to Dhammika Prasad.

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But KL Rahul stood steady to recover his side along with Virat Kohli. They went into lunch break with both men approaching their respective fifties. In the second session, they completed their century stand with Kohli scoring runs at a quicker rate than Rahul. This is a historic recovery, for the last time India had a century partnership for the third wicket after its first two wickets fell before the score of 15 was way back at Trent Bridge in 2002. READ: Kumar Sangakkara and that cover drive: A match made in cricketing heaven

The pair of Kohli and Rahul also completed 150 runs in their partnership before Kohli was out for 78. The partnership was worth 164 after the team was struggling at 12 for 2. It is only the seventh time India has had a century partnership for the third wicket after losing two wickets for 15 or fewer. The table below lists those instances.

Highest 3^rd wicket partnership after the second wicket falling for 15 or less for India

–          No pair has done it twice, but Mohinder Amarnath and Gundappa Viswanath were involved in two occasions (once together).

–          Of the previous six instances, two were won, two were lost and two drawn.

–          Dilip Vengsarkar was retired hurt; the partnership with Navjot Sidhu was thus an unbroken one.

–          If the bar is raised to 20 runs for the loss of second wicket, two more century partnership would make this list: 130* between Pankaj Roy and Vijay Manjrekar (against Pakistan at Dhaka, 1955) and 109 (Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar against New Zealand at Hamilton, 1999). READ: KL Rahul offers India potential solution to No. 3 crisis with ton against Sri Lanka in 2nd Test

These are the numbers for India. If we consider other teams, there are bigger partnerships following such starts. Interestingly, the highest partnership of all time in Tests and First-Class cricket is for the third wicket — and it meets the criterion: Mahela Jayawardene and Kumar Sangakkara added 624 for the third wicket against South Africa at SSC in 2006 after Sri Lanka were 14 for 2.

Overall, there are 12 partnerships of over 200 runs for the third wicket including three of over 300+ runs after a team lost its first two wickets for 15 or less number of runs. READ: Rohit Sharma: Prodigy or Tragedy?

Double century partnerships for third wicket after losing first two wickets for 15 or lesser number of runs

–          Only two of the above partnerships came on losing causes: 267 between Graham Thorpe and Michael Vaughan, and 209 between Brian Lara and Ramnaresh Sarwan.

–          Two others were drawn: 226 by Michael Atherton and Alec Stewart, and 210 between Bruce Edgar and Martin Crowe. The other eight were all on the winning side. READ: Harbhajan Singh should be dropped for India vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test at Colombo

–          About two months back, Pakistan were 13 for 2 in the fourth innings while chasing 377. Shan Masood and Younis Khan then added 242 runs for the third wicket that turned the match in favour of Pakistan, and they chased the target with just three wickets down. The other double-century partnership after such a start in the fourth innings is 212 by Mudassar Nazar and Javed Miandad while chasing 227, and they won it.

Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen is the only pair to share three century partnerships after their team lost the first two wickets for 15 or fewer runs: 110 runs against Australia at Trent Bridge, 2013; 106 against Sri Lanka at Southampton, 2011; and 103 against India at Mohali, 2008-09.

Sangakkara and Jayawardene is the only other pair to do this twice. Barring the gargantuan 624, they also added 168 against South Africa at Kingsmead in 2000-01. READ: Rangana Herath: An ode to the rotund banker

If the cut-off is raised to 20 for 2 or worse, Lara and Sarwan have shared three century partnerships, as do Cook and Pietersen, and Jayawardene and Sangakkara.

(Bharath Seervi is a cricket statistician who is obsessed with digging numbers, facts and records related to the game. An active member of Society of Cricket Statisticians of India, he blogs at www.cricketseervistats.blogspot.com. He can be followed on Twitter at @SeerviBharath and on Facebook here)