Rohit Sharma scored his 21st ton against West Indies in Mumbai
The only player to have three double ODI centuries to his name, has the highest innings in ODI cricket of 264 and Rohit Sharma was on the verge of adding a fourth but fell short. His blitzkrieg of 162 led India to a thumping win over West Indies, by 224 runs in the 4th ODI in Mumbai.
On being asked about the superb knock he played against Windies, Rohit said he never thought of completing a double hundred like he had thrice earlier in his ODI career although Rayudu at the other end reminded him that he was capable.
"I never thought of a double hundred. I just wanted to make sure to get as many runs as possible and get the team into a good position. Rayudu told me that you have got a good chance for a double. The CCI can be tricky in terms of chasing and our bowlers did well in getting them out," he remarked.
Rohit has seven 150's to his name, 21 ODI centuries and 36 fifties so far and the opener ensures to go big once he gets rooted.
His 162 knock against Windies in Mumbai consisted of 20 fours and 4 sixes as he walloped the bowlers left, right and center.
Along with Ambati Rayudu, they put up a 200+ partnership after losing opener Shikhar Dhawan and captain Virat Kohli early.
Rohit has hit two centuries in the five-match series so far, with one more yet to be played. Kohli has smashed three in a row and failed to make it four. He could have equalised the record set by former Sri Lankan skipper of Kumar Sangakkara of four successive tons in a row.
The 'Hitman' went on to break Sachin Tendulkar's record when he overhauled the latter's tally of maximum sixes in One-Day International cricket. Overall, Rohit is on number seven in the list of batsmen with most sixes in the 50-over format.
Rohit has now got onto the second spot just behind his teammate Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the list of most sixes hit by an Indian batsman in ODIs. Before getting out on 162 runs, the Mumbaikar took his tally of overall sixes in ODI cricket to 198.
In an exclusive interview with IndiaTV, former Team India captain Sourav Ganguly lauded the opener
"Rohit is the man for big matches. He scored 150 in the first match and now in the fourth match as well. When he scores a ton, he always aims to go beyond that and win the match for India. Virat and Rohit are important in India's ODI team. Im extremely happy with his performance and glad that he was selected for the Test team in Australia. The selectors made a good decision bringing him in," Ganguly told IndiaTV in the show 'Cricket Ki Baat'.
