Indian batsman Rohit Sharma smashes 264 to break Virender Sehwag's previous record by 45 runs and become first player in ODI history to score two double-hundreds
Rohit Sharma made history on Thursday by smashing an incredible 264 for India
against Srilanka to break the record for the highest individual score in
one-day international history.Sharma, whose previous best was 209, surpassed the previous ODI record of 219
scored by his compatriot Virender Sehwag against West Indies in 2011 and
became the first man to register two innings above 200 in the process.All the more remarkable was the acceleration shown by the Indian batsman,
moving from 51 to 250 in 94 balls after taking 72 balls for his first
half-century.The 27-year-old was eventually caught off the final delivery of India's
innings with the hosts finishing on 404 for 5. Captain Virat Kohli was the
only other batsman to score more than 28 runs before he was run out for 66."I was coming off a two-month break so I'm not tired and was ready to bat
another 50 overs," said Sharma after his record-breaking feat."Once I got to 50 I knew I had to convert it because it's a good wicket
and we know that scores here of 300 and 350 are easily chaseable."We wanted to get a big score and that made me stay there as long as
possible."Despite breaking the previous best international score by a whopping 45 runs,
Sharma fell marginally short of the record in all limited-overs cricket,
which remains Ali Brown's 268 for Surrey against Glamorgan at the Oval in
2002.All four ODI double-hundreds have been scored by Indian batsmen, with Sachin
Tendulkar the first to reach the landmark against South Africa in 2010. Sri Lanka never looked likely to reach India's total in reply, losing their
first wicket three balls into their innings and eventually succumbing to
just 251 - 13 runs fewer than Sharma scored alone."It is embarrassing that we are not even competing," said Sri Lanka captain
Angelo Mathews."We lost our way in the last 20 overs. It is not acceptable. Our bowlers
didn't have any answers for them. To score 290 in the last 25 is
unbelievable. Nothing can be taken away from Rohit, though."Kohli said: "Today is the kind of day I can tell my kids I was there. I don't
think this record is getting broken anytime soon."I was glad I was batting with him. There was a time when Rohit will admit
runs were not coming easily, and I just asked him to take his time. Once he
gets to 70-80, he is almost unstoppable."
-By Debjit Mukherjee
-By Debjit Mukherjee
কোন মন্তব্য নেই:
একটি মন্তব্য পোস্ট করুন