Top 8 Fastest Double Centuries In ODI Cricket
Published - 13 Jun 2021, 01:08 PM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:47 AM
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For little less than 40 years, there was not a single score of 200 or more in ODI cricket; in the past 12 years, there have been 8 such instances.
This speaks volumes of the change in dynamics in white-ball cricket, the expedition of the game owing to the advent of T20 cricket. The pitches have got flatter, boundaries shorter, bats bigger, the white-ball doesn’t swing after a few initial overs- a recipe made perfect for the batters to stamp their authority over the bowlers.
Sachin Tendulkar, the former India opener, was the first in men’s ODI cricket to breach the 200-run mark in ODI cricket; Rohit Sharma has now done it thrice, and is the record holder of the highest score – 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014 – in ODI cricket. But, did he do it in the least number of balls? Let’s find out.
Top 8 Fastest Double-Centuries In ODI Cricket:
8. Rohit Sharma: 156 balls vs Australia, 2013
2013 was the turning point in Rohit Sharma’s white-ball career. After a successful Champions Trophy in England, where he was promoted as the opener by captain MS Dhoni, on November 2, 2013, the right-hander hit his maiden double century in ODI cricket against Australia.
On a batting beauty in Bangalore, Rohit went on to score 209 runs off 158 balls – it might be odd realizing that that double ton, which was brought up in 156 balls, is the slowed double century of the eight.
Sharma, along with Dhoni, smashed 101 runs off the last five overs! His innings was laced with 12 fours and the then-highest number of record 16 sixes.
7. Martin Guptill: 153 balls vs West Indies, 2015
Martin Guptill had a phenomenal 2015 World Cup and was a crucial contributor in New Zealand’s march to the finals. He single-handedly won them the quarter-final against West Indies with his burgeoning knock of 237 unbeaten runs off 163 in Wellington.
He reached his 100 off the 111th ball he faced; he brought up his double century in 153 balls. In the last 52 balls, he racked 137 runs! His 237-run feat is the highest score in any World Cup game.
6. Rohit Sharma: 151 balls vs Sri Lanka, 2017
Rohit Sharma’s third double hundred – the only man to do it on more than one occasion in ODI cricket – was brought up in 151 balls, which was against Sri Lanka in Mohali in 2017. The opener harrumphed the Lankan bowlers to all parts of the stadium for 208 unbeaten runs in 153 balls.
He had notched up his hundred in the 40th over, and then teed off mercilessly on the bowlers. He accelerates crazily after reaching his hundred; all three of his double-tons epitomizes his approach in 50-over cricket.
5. Rohit Sharma: 151 balls vs Sri Lanka, 2014
When one man alone defeated the entire team – statistically, quite literally. The entire Sri Lanka batting line-up fell 13 runs short of Rohit Sharma’s score of 264. Records galore at the Eden Gardens in an extraordinary cricket game in 2014, just a little over a year after Sharma had hit his maiden double century in ODI cricket.
But it wasn’t to be if not for some luck – Rohit when on 4 off 16, was dropped by Thisara Perera. That drop from Perera would prove to be the costliest drop in an ODI game. He would then go on to make a total of 264 runs off 173 balls, the highest score ever in ODI cricket. He got to his 50 off 72 balls, 100 off 100, 150 off 125, 200 off 151, and 250 off 166.
“It is embarrassing that we are not even competing. It is not acceptable. Our bowlers didn’t have any answers,” said Angelo Mathews, Sri Lanka’s captain then, in a dispirited tone, caused by marvellous innings from a special batsman in Rohit Sharma.
4. Fakhar Zaman: 148 balls vs Zimbabwe, 2018
Fakhar Zaman became the first Pakistan batsman, and the only to date, to record a double century in ODI cricket when he tore into the Zimbabwe bowlers in Bulawayo 3 years ago.
The left-handed opener cluttered 24 boundaries and 5 sixes in his 210* innings off 156 balls. He had brought up the landmark score on his 148th delivery.
3. Sachin Tendulkar: 147 vs South Africa, 2010
In February 2010, at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior, Sachin Tendulkar became the first batsman in men’s cricket to record a double century in ODI cricket.
He did it against the likes of Dale Steyn, Charl Langeveldt, Wayne Parnell, Jacques Kallis. The batting maestro brought up his 200th run, in the last over of the innings, on the 147th ball he faced.
Before that, Tendulkar had come a few times close to notching up a double hundred – he was unbeaten on 186 against New Zealand, had scored 175 in a losing cause against Australia, and had to retire hurt due to cramps while on 163 against New Zealand again in Christchurch.
However, he managed to ultimately do it; it was fitting to his legacy as a batsman that he was the first one to surpass the seemingly unsurpassable.
2. Virender Sehwag: 140 balls vs West Indies, 2011
At the fag end of his career, when his powers were on the wane, Virender Sehwag created history. In his whirlwind knock of 219 runs off 149 balls against West Indies in Indore in 2011, Sehwag became only the second batsman, after Tendulkar, to notch up a double hundred in ODI cricket; he was the then holder of the highest individual score in ODIs.
Sehwag brought up his double hundred in 140 balls, and his knock was ladened with 25 fours and 7 sixes.
1. Chris Gayle: 138 balls vs Zimbabwe
Chris Gayle is the first man to record a double hundred in an ODI World Cup – he achieved this feat in a group stage game against Zimbabwe during the 2015 World Cup. The ‘Universe Boss’ carted the helpless Zimbabwean bowlers to all parts of the Manuka Oval in Canberra.
Gayle holds the record for the fastest ODI double hundred, which he reached in 138 balls. He scored a total of 215 runs off 147 balls in that innings. Much like Chris Gayle himself, he thumped more sixes (16) than he did boundaries (10) in his historic knock.
