Rohit Sharma made his entry in the elite club of double centurions in One-Day International (ODI) cricket. Rohit’s innings of 209 was the third ODI double century after Sachin Tendulkar’s unbeaten 200 against South Africa at Gwalior in 2010 and Virender Sehwag’s 219 against West Indies at Indore in 2011.
Let us look at the number of balls taken by the double centurions while reaching the milestones:
| | Balls needed | | | |
| Player | 50 | 100 | 150 | 200 |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 37 (9x4) | 90 (13x4) | 118 (22x4; 1x6) | 147 (25x4, 3x6) |
| Virender Sehwag | 41 (3x4; 4x6) | 69 (10x4; 5x6) | 112 (16x4; 5x6) | 140 (23x4; 6x6) |
| Rohit Sharma | 71 (3x4; 1x6) | 114 (4x4; 6x6) | 140 (9x4;9x6) | 156 (12x4; 15x6) |
Rohit took 71 balls to reach his half-century and subsequently reached his fourth ODI ton in 114 balls.
In another 44 deliveries he scored the remaining 108 runs at the rate of knots. Rohit took only 16 balls to reach from 150 to 200. Tendulkar had taken 29 balls whereas Sehwag took 28 deliveries.
Runs scored by the double centurions in boundaries and sixes when they reached 200:
| | Score | Runs in boundaries and sixes | Per cent |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 200 | 118 | 59 |
| Virender Sehwag | 219 | 142 | 64.84 |
| Rohit Sharma | 209 | 144 | 68.89 |
Rohit scored about 69 per cent runs in boundaries and sixes while Sehwag scored close to 65 per cent runs in that manner. Tendulkar hit 25 boundaries and three sixes in his innings of 200 against South Africa in Gwalior.
Rohit Sharma hit 16 sixes which is a record in ODI cricket. The previous record holder was Shane Watson who had clobbered 15 sixes against Bangladesh at Mirpur in 2011.
Here’s the analysis of dot balls faced by the double centurions
| | Balls faced | Dot balls | Dot balls per cent |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 147 | 47 | 31.97 |
| Virender Sehwag | 149 | 42 | 28.18 |
| Rohit Sharma | 158 | 71 | 44.93 |
Rohit played out 71 dot balls. He was cautious at the start of the innings and then hit shots all-round the wicket. Tendulkar played out 47 dot balls out of 147 balls he faced against South Africa enroute to his double ton. Sehwag scored no runs off 42 balls against West Indies at Indore which was about 28 per cent balls not scored off.
All the three batsmen opened the innings during their monumental knocks. While Tendulkar carried his bat through the innings, Sehwag was dismissed in the 47th over of the innings after scoring 219 and Rohit was dismissed in the final over.
Tendulkar and Rohit reached the milestone in the final over of the innings while Sehwag reached the double ton in the 44th over. Tendulkar reached his double century with a single, Sehwag cut Andre Russell past backward point for a boundary while Rohit hit Clint McKay over point for a six. When Tendulkar, Sehwag and Rohit scored their double tons, India posted 402, 418 and 383 runs respectively and won the games comfortably in the end.
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