Hyderabad: India's right-handed opening batsman Shubman Gill smashed a superb double century in the first ODI against New Zealand on Wednesday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
As a result of Gill's astounding knock, he became one of only eight players in the history of the game to have scored a double hundred in a men's one-day international, and he was the youngest of those eight players to enter the coveted club. This was a significant accomplishment for Gill. Gill was 23 years old and 132 days old when the first ODI was played.
The previous youngest was Ishan Kishan, who set the record with 210 against Bangladesh last month at the age of 24 years and 145 days.
Gill was out in the last over after making 208 from 149 balls. He had hit 19 fours and 9 sixes to lift India get a huge score of 349/8. The next best score was 34, which was made by the team's captain, Rohit Sharma. The youthful opening batsman's scoring pace picked up as the innings progressed, and his first 50 runs only took 52 deliveries. He went from 50 to 100 in just 35 deliveries, and then from 100 to 150 in 35 deliveries.
Gill went from 150 to 200 in just 23 balls, passing the double-century mark due to three consecutive sixes off Lockie Ferguson in the 49th over, which sparked a dramatic acceleration.
In the process, he also became the fastest Indian cricketer to record 1000 ODI runs when he reached 106 in his 19th ODI innings. The 97-ball 116 that Gill scored against Sri Lanka in the series-clinching game at Greenfield International Stadium in Thiruvananthapuram shows that Gill is in the midst of a remarkable run of form in one-day international cricket.
Gill is now the fastest Indian and the joint-second fastest batsman in ODI history to reach the 1000-run milestone, passing the previous record holders Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan by 24 innings. He equaled Pakistan opener Iman-ul-Haq for scoring 1000 runs in ODIs in 19 innings, but fell short of Pakistan opener Fakhar Zaman's record of reaching 1000 runs in ODIs in the shortest amount of time, 18 innings.
The lucky break came just before the 19th over, when he was a few runs from from his fifty. The New Zealand skipper, Tom Latham, dropped the batsman and missed a potential stumping off Michael Bracewell. Gill was also dropped by fast bowler Henry Shipley when he was on 124. Shipley missed a chance to get Gill caught and bowled, which cost the team a lot in the end.
Rohit's 264 against Sri Lanka in Eden Gardens, Kolkata, in 2014 is still the best individual score in men's ODI history. Against Australia in 2013 (209) and against Sri Lanka in 2017, he scored another two hundred runs, giving him the distinction of being the only player to have done so more than once in the format (208 not out).
The lucky break came just before the 19th over, when he was a few runs from from his fifty. Tom Latham, the skipper of New Zealand, dropped the batter and also missed a chance to stump Michael Bracewell. Gill was also dropped by fast bowler Henry Shipley when he was on 124. Shipley missed a caught and bowled chance, which turned out to be very costly in the end.—Inputs from Agencies