Former Indian batter Robin Uthappa believes the young opening pair of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal has similarities with the iconic duo of Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar. Ganguly and Tendulkar are regarded as one of the best opening pairs in ODIs and savored great success as a left and right-hand batting combination.

The duo scored 6609 runs in 136 innings at an average of 49.32, including 21-century stands and 23 fifty partnerships.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal are still very young in their respective careers. While Jaiswal mostly adopts an aggressive style, Gill is known to play the second-fiddle. The duo added a quickfire alliance of 74 runs off just 36 balls in the opening T20I against Sri Lanka at Pallekele on Saturday.

Gill didn’t play the second game because of injury whereas the pair could only add 11 runs in the final game on Tuesday. The young duo also added impressive partnerships in the last three T20Is against Zimbabwe.

“I do see them, when I look at them they remind me of Sourav Ganguly and Sachin Tendulkar going out together, where their games kind of complimented each other. Their strategies complimented each other, that’s what I see when I see these two go out to bat together,” said Uthappa on Sony Sports Network.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal is yet to make his ODI debut and Uthappa reckons the left-hander will be determined to grab his opportunity in the 50-overs format.

“I honestly feel when he (Jaiswal) gets that opportunity in ODI cricket, he will seal that spot so quickly because after Test cricket and T20I cricket, ODI cricket is going to be so much easier for him. Because he will feel like I have all the time in the world to be able to score runs,” Uthappa said on Sony Sports Network.

India and Sri Lanka will take on each other in a three-match ODI series.