Never thought I will score a double hundred in ODIs – Rohit Sharma

 

India’s opening batsman Rohit Sharma is the ultimate master of scoring double centuries in ODI format. The talisman is the solitary International batsman to score three double hundred in the 50-overs version. In fact, it was used to be a difficult task to score a double hundred in ODIs but the barrier was broken by legendary Sachin Tendulkar against South Africa.

Rohit said he never thought he would ever score a double century in the ODI format. The right-hander scored his maiden double century against Australia in 2013 and thus became the third International batsman to go past 200 after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag.

The Indian opener was on fire against Australia as he smashed 209 runs off just 158 balls. Rohit’s whirlwind knock included a dozen fours and 16 sixes.

M Chinnaswamy is well known to be a paradise for the batsman and Rohit Sharma played one of the best knocks of his career. In fact, it was decider of the series and thus all was at stake. India posted a gargantuan score of 383 runs and Australia felt short by 57 runs. Hence, the hosts clinched the series by 3-2 and Rohit was awarded the Player of the series.

Meanwhile, Rohit has the skills to change gear like a sports car after going past the 100-run mark. The right-hander can clear the ropes at will and he is a dangerous batsman once he gets to the three-digits. Rohit has eight scores of more than 150 in the ODIs and his penchant to score daddy hundreds is well known.

“Honestly, I never thought I’d slam a double century in the ODIs but it just happened. That day the track was conducive for batting and the shorter boundaries at Chinnaswamy aided me as well. I remember there was a rain interruption for some 30 odd minutes when I and Shikhar (Dhawan) opened the innings and he was dismissed in the second over after the play resumed”.

“Soon after, Virat (Kohli) was run out due to a mix-up. I still don’t know whose fault it was, but by then I had understood that I’ll have to stay till the end to post a big total because it was a very high scoring series and no total was safe in that series”, Rohit Sharma said while talking to Ravichandran Ashwin in Instagram live interaction.

Subsequently, Rohit went on to score two more double centuries in ODI format. The stylish batsman made a mockery out of the Sri Lankan bowling line-up as he scored the highest individual score of 264 runs at Eden Gardens, Kolkata in 2014. The right-hander once again continued his assault against the Lankan bowlers as he smashed an unbeaten knock of 208 at Mohali in 2017.