Kolkata, Sept. 24 -- Admit it, the partnership between Abhishek Sharma and Shubman Gill made you feel nostalgic. Not comparing, but the analogy with the past greats is so palpable right now. Left-right opening pair, truckloads of runs, records set and broken across decades-these were comforts India used to in white ball cricket. In the dressing room right now is Gautam Gambhir, whose equation with Virender Sehwag wasn't probably exploited to the hilt. But in Shikhar Dhawan-Rohit Sharma and Sourav Ganguly-Sachin Tendulkar India had mined all-time greatness. Still early days, but watching Abhishek and Gill decimate Pakistan felt like an encore, an auspicious beginning to a long and fulfilling dynamic. Already making it an endearing tale is the background of friendship, of days spent in U-14 camps at Punjab, bunking together during the U-19 World Cup, fine-tuning their batting under the watchful eyes of Yuvraj Singh during the pandemic. In a fiercely individualistic sport masquerading as a team game, this is the sort of mateship that can be the magic ingredient of success. On Sunday, it translated into a 105-run opening stand. Who knows, maybe more in the near future. "It's really important to be very good friends off the field," Suryakumar said after the match. "When you open together, that bond matters. Sometimes you don't have to say anything in the middle. Just a look is enough-to take a cheeky single, to complement each other if one's flying or if one's struggling. That friendship comes into the picture when they bat together." For all the body of work he possesses in Tests and ODIs, Gill's T20I career has been disrupted. Abhishek's rise through the IPL and his subsequent selection however was more organic. Which may have given rise to a notion that Gill's not quite a T20 thoroughbred like Abhishek. He has already smashed that theory in this IPL, effortlessly stitching several massive opening partnerships with Sai Sudharsan. But international cricket can be an unnerving stage, that too against Pakistan. Gill, however, showed no shred of doubt with two majestic boundaries in the second over-sweeping Saim Ayub past short-fine before going on the back foot and cutting him through cover. Spectacular though was the loft off Shaheen Afridi, clearing extra cover with an inside-out shot. Making an early statement was necessary in a reasonably challenging chase of 171. But also not lost on the openers was the significance of building a start from where India could in no way lose the game. "I think it was required for someone to bat at least 10-12 overs and give us that strong base and they did the same thing," said Suryakumar. The best partnerships in cricket are built around the simple philosophy of channeling a combined strength in such a way that it not only sparks a fire, but also builds on the start to go as deep into the game as possible. Gill certainly has benefited from that approach in this IPL, but Abhishek's desire to convert his start helped India to run away with the chase. Abhishek loves freewheeling batting, which explains why only thrice before this had he played more than 30 balls in a T20I innings. "It's just the way he is," Suryakumar said. "Abhishek is very selfless when it comes to his batting style. In the powerplay, he goes hard, but even after that he knows what's required. He analyses situations, he's learning every game." This time though, something clearly clicked inside him. "Today, it was pretty simple," Abhishek said at the post-match presentation. "The way they were coming at us without any reason, I didn't like it at all. And I thought that this is the only (answer) that I could give with my bat and obviously (contribute) with the win towards my team. That's all that was going through my mind. I just wanted to deliver for my team." And that meant staying back after providing a brisk start, working the middle overs to shut the door on Pakistan. It also drew a personality out of Abhishek, helped undoubtedly by the presence of his long-time friend who too wasn't keeping quiet at the other end. "We've been playing since our school days, so we enjoy each other's company really well," Abhishek said. "And the way we started, I thought that we're going to do this in one of the games and that's how we're going to start our partnerships. And luckily it was today, and I feel the way he was giving them back, I really enjoyed it." In all the years of watching some of the finest partnerships unfold from the bats of greats, it was always evident they couldn't have done it without feeding off each other's positivity. Gill and Abhishek comfortably ticked that box on Sunday. Their batting styles couldn't have been more contradictory, but that is exactly what made them so watchable. A lot of drama but little struggle, this was one great performance in a not so great game. But it did offer a peek into a partnership in the making, possibly a great one at that....