Bangalore: Befitting the festival of lights, Diwali, dashing Indian opener Rohit Sharma Saturday set the M. Chinnaswamy cricket stadium on fire here with a flurry of 16 sixes and scored a double century (209) against Australia in the last and final One-day International (ODI) of the series.
Put in to bat after Australian skipper George Bailey won the toss and elected to field, the in-form Sharma became the third cricketer to score a double century in the one-day format after compatriots Sachin Tendulkar and former opener Virender Shewag.
Incidentally, only Indian batsmen hold the world record of scoring double centuries in the 50-over version of the game.
Tendulkar remained 200 not out in an ODI at Nagpur Feb 24, 2010 playing against South Africa, while Shewag holds the highest record of 219 scored Dec 8, 2011 at Indore.
Sharma's innings was studded with 12 fours and 16 sixes. It was a record for most sixes in an innings. Of the 19 sixes hit all-round the stadium during India's innings, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni accounted for two while Yuvraj Singh struck one.
