New Zealand's Martin Guptill scored the fifth ever double century in ODI cricket, with a scintillating unbeaten 237 against West Indies in the World Cup quarter-final at Wellington on Saturday.
As Martin Guptill joins an exclusive list of players who have scored double centuries in ODI cricket, post his whirlwind 237 against West Indies in the World Cup quarter-final at Wellington on Friday, the question arises as to whether his scintillating innings can be counted amongst the pantheon of great cricketing knocks.
Guptill joins Sachin Tendulkar (200 vs South Africa), Rohit Sharma (209 vs Australia and 264 vs Sri Lanka), Chris Gayle (215 v Zimbabwe) and Virender Sehwag (219 vs West Indies) as the fifth double-centurion in ODI cricket, and also now has the record of being the only New Zealander to achieve the feat in World Cup cricket.
While it may be too premature to label his knock as the best ever (at least in ODI cricket overall), let us weigh the pros and cons, which have gone (or against) Guptill's after this knock.
Why it stands out as a truly great knock
223 minutes, 163 balls, 24 fours and 11 sixes, that is what his unbeaten 237 consisted of, stats which definitely cannot be ignored given the enormity of the situation.
Yes, New Zealand were playing in a packed Westpac stadium of 30,268, and had enormous pressure to contend with, which gives Guptill's knock it's deserved weight in gold.
Not that the Westpac is a T-20 belter with shortened ropes, aided to suit new age baseball style hitting, which makes Guptill's knock even more awe inspiring.
Better than Glenn Turners effort?
Glenn Turner's 171 was New Zealand's previous best in a World Cup match (getty images)
Now, Glenn Turner's 171 in the 1975 tournament (the previous highest World Cup score by a New Zealander), came against the weakest of opposition (East Africa), on a batting paradise at Edgbaston, and was virtually played out in a zero pressure environment.
Guptill's knock in contrast was achieved with an entire nation waiting with bated breath for the Kiwis to rise to occassion (which they eventually did), and had all the trappings of being a truly stellar one, which of course makes it better than Turner's effort.
Comparision with the 'Fab four'
Coming to the other four double-centurions and amongst the above mentioned, only two of them (Rohit's 209 and Sachin's 200) came against opposition of good calibre.
If Rohit dismantled Shane Watson and James Faulkner with unerring precision, during that memorable knock (vs Australia, Bangalore - 2013), then Sachin was even more impressive in a master class against the likes of Dale Steyn and Wayne Parnell (vs South Africa, Gwalior - 2010).
Of course, Australia and South Africa are no lightweights and despite the fact that India were batting first on both occassions, Rohit and Sachin's efforts deserve their rightful place in the sun.
Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag (anti-clockwise) have also breached the 200-run mark
And speaking of Sehwag (vs West Indies,Indore - 2011) and Gayle (vs Zimbabwe, Canberra - 2015), their respective knocks can be placed down the order, considering that West Indies' and Zimbabwe's bowling line-ups do not exactly induce fear.
Rohit's other double century (vs Sri Lanka, Kolkata - 2014) can be sandwiched in between, given the fact that Sri Lanka had potent bowlers in Nuwan Kulasekara and Angelo Mathews, players who are definitely a notch above ones in West Indies and Zimbabwe.
So going by various permutations and combinations, should Guptill's knock should be placedright atop the others, thanks to its sense of occassion and also the fact that it occured in a World Cup semi-final?
Read on.
Weak West Indian bowling attack?
The only glaring fact that goes against Guptill's knock is that it came against a team whose bowling can be termed at best mediocre.
Jerome Taylor, Jason Holder, Suleman Benn and Andre Russell just did not have the quality to withstand Guptill's sudden assault, which brought back memories of AB De Villiers inflicting the same to the quartet (his world record 150 in the league stages), thus highlighting the gulf in class between the West Indies and the rest.
Though it may never be known as to whether Guptill (could or could not) have replicated the same feat, provided New Zealand had tougher opponents in tow (say South Africa), still his mind boggling effort will never lose lustre, thanks to this being the World Cup.
And if Guptill decides on an encore, come the semi-final at Auckland on March 24... then South Africa may well have to climb a precarious Guptill run-mountain!
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