As the ongoing Indian Premier League 2026 (IPL 2026) season is entering the final phase, the former India and KKR batter Manoj Tiwary shared his greatest opening pair in IPL history. Virat Kohli’s name dominated in the “This or That” showdown, with Tiwary’s choice left many surprised.
Over the years, IPL has seen some unbelievable opening partnerships, from title-winning duos to destructive batting pairs that dominated bowlers across the seasons. Among those are the famous names like Rohit Sharma-Quinton de Kock, and Virat Kohli-Faf du Plessis.
Manoj Tiwary picks IPL’s greatest opening pair; Travis Head-Abhishek Sharma impresses him post
Recently, speaking with Cricbuzz, Manoj Tiwary has picked Sunrisers Hyderabad’s (SRH) explosive openers Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma as one of the most dangerous opening combinations ever seen in IPL history. Their fearless batting style has completely changed the T20 approach.
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In a very short time, the SRH pair has created total chaos for bowlers. Since 2024, Head and Abhishek have already scored more than 1,600 runs together at an average close to 49 and the unbelievable strike rate of 254.1, which is the highest ever for any opening pair in IPL history.
Their attacking approach has also helped Sunrisers Hyderabad become one of the most dangerous batting teams in the tournament. The pair already holds the record for the two highest power play scores in IPL history—125/0 and 107/0.
Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma outdo many legendary opening partnerships
During the “This or That” session, several legendary pairs were pitted against each other, like David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, who were once SRH’s batting mainstays for years at the top, and Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, who were the backbone of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) during their most successful years.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) icons Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle, and Faf du Plessis also featured. It all started with Michael Hussey and Murali Vijay vs Gautam Gambhir and Robin Uthappa, and Tiwary went with the former KKR openers who have scored over 1900 runs together.
Then, the cricket pandit picked David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan over Gambhir-Uthappa, with SRH’s former stars scoring over 2350 runs in 50 innings together. However, Virat Kohli and Faf Du Plessis won the race against Warner-Dhawan because their aggressive batting saw them score around 2000 runs in just 37 innings for RCB.
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Manoj Tiwary picks Virat Kohli-Chris Gayle as the best IPL opening pair
However, the former Bengal Sports Minister picked Head and Abhishek over Kohli-Plessis; Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya (600+ runs); Rohit Sharma and Quinton de Kock (1000+ runs); and Jos Buttler and Yashaswi Jaiswal (1200+ runs) during the intense round.
Then, Kohli and Chris Gayle outclassed all the opening pairs, including Faf Du Plessis and Ruturaj Gaikwad (1100+ runs), Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan (1800+ runs), and David Warner and Jonny Bairstow (1400+ runs). Tiwary said that Kohli and Gayle still stayed above everyone else.
Together, Gayle and Kohli scored nearly 2,800 runs in 59 innings for RCB as the opening pair with nine century stands. And Tiwary names the RCB legends as the best opening pair in IPL history because of their consistency, dominance, and massive partnership numbers over the years.
Gayle – Kohli or Head – Abhishek❓@tiwarymanoj picks the best #IPL opening pair@GoogleIndia #IPL2026 pic.twitter.com/g1IeMtonNN
— Cricbuzz (@cricbuzz) May 9, 2026
