Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (l) and Abhishek Sharma, Tavis Head Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi are turning into one of the most devastating and fastest scoring opening pairs in the IPL. Their explosive opening stands for Rajasthan Royals have already lit up IPL 2026. The duo has been sensational this season, firing on all cylinders in the Royals’ three wins in as many games. So far in IPL 2026, the young duo have bowled out 225 runs for the opening wicket in three matches with a staggering run-partnership rate of 12.73 and their dynamic knocks in the overs have been key for RR to enjoy the top spot in the points table.
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Pathum Nissanka reveals KL Rahul’s advice, opens up powerplay plan Last year, the duo opened in seven matches together and scored 422 runs for the opening wicket at a run-rate of 12.77 and a staggering average of 60.28. In comparison, the acclaimed explosive duo of Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head, who have started 13 matches together for SRH, have scored 522 runs at 11.52. Over the years, the IPL has seen some legendary opening combinations in Shikhar Dhawan-David Warner (SRH), Chris Gayle-Virat Kohli (RCB), Brendon McCullum-Dwayne Smith (CSK/GL), Virender Sehwag-David Warner (DD) to name a few, but none of their partnership runs have come close to what the youngsters have so far.
Brothers of Destruction
In fact, if we apply at least a 10-innings filter (number of partnerships), only Sunil Narine and Phil Salt have scored faster runs among opening pairs in IPL history than Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi.Narine and Salt opened for KKR in IPL 2024 and in 12 innings they scored 12.46 runs per over. While Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi are just slightly behind with a destructive run rate of 12.36 in 10 innings so far in IPL 2025 and 2026. and if they continue to wreak havoc in the upcoming matches, they will surely top this list. To put things into perspective, the opening pair of SRH’s Head and Abhishek, often considered the most destructive, is below Jaiswal and Sooryavanshi. Affectionately nicknamed ‘Travishek’ by the Orange Army, the indefatigable Sunrisers Hyderabad duo scored 12.29 runs in 28 innings.At number 4 is the opening pair of Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn (2017-19) with a run-rate of 10.6 in 25 innings; followed by RCB’s Virat Kohli and Phil Salt with a run rate of 10.24 in 15 innings.
IPL Opening Partnership – Highest Partnership Rate Pair (min 10 innings)
PartnersTeamSpanInnsRunsAvgRRNarine-SaltKolkata Knight Riders2024-20241255946.5812.46Jaiswal-SooryavanshiRajasthan Royals2025–20261064764.7012.36Abhishek-HeadSunrisers Hyderabad2024–202628121144.8512.29Lynn-NarineKolkata Knight Riders2017–20192570728.2810.60Kohli-SaltRoyal Challengers Bengaluru2025–20261561140.7310.24Rohit-RickeltonMumbai Indians2025–20261662539.069.86Priyansh-PrabhsimranPunjab Kings2025–202619690031.Gill790031. Titans2024–202620129668.219.75Buttler-ParthivMumbai Indians2017–20171034134.109.60Gambhir-SehwagDelhi Daredevils2008–20102473231.8 Daredevils2010–20132972825.109.27Sooryavanshi has played 10 matches in the IPL so far and has a terrifying strike rate of 218.71. In 70 matches, Yashasvi Jaiswal has a strike rate of 153.58 in IPL.
