In what came as a priceless gift to himself on his second marriage anniversary, Rohit Sharma smashed his third double hundred during the second ODI against Sri Lanka in Mohali, becoming the first ever batsman on the planet to reach the coveted landmark. Sharma ended his innings on an unbeaten 208, thereby becoming the first captain to score a double ton in the history of cricket. (See inning highlights)
With Sharma on a complete rampage, India scored a massive 392 runs losing just 4 wickets in the allotted 50 overs.
With his rampant double ton coming off just 151 balls with 13 speedy boundaries and 12 skyscraper sixes, Rohit scored his 16th ton and fourth in line of the most centuries scored in ODIs by an Indian.
Rohit has established and enhanced his status as one of the finest limited overs batsman of his generation. He holds the world record score of 264 against the team he loves most thrashing, Sri Lanka and made his maiden double ton of 209 against Australia in Bengaluru back in 2013.
In all the seven double-hundreds that have been scored, three of them belong to the Mumbai swashbuckler. The other four double-hundreds have been scored by Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Martin Guptill and Chris Gayle. Rohit's 208 not out against Sri Lanka is the second highest individual score by a captain, with the top spot being occupied by Sehwag with his 219 against West Indies in 2011.
After Sachin Tendulkar's 49, Virat Kohli's 32 and Sourav Ganguly's 22, Rohit is in line with his 16 tons. Openers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit made an impressive start after Sri Lanka winning the toss and putting the hosts to bat first.With a wicket similar to Dharamsala, the Lankans may have been expecting the same result like Dharamsala, but the tables have today turned.
Sadly for Shreyas Iyer, he was closing in on his maiden ODI ton, but was dismissed at 88. Iyer would be proud as he and Rohit helped project a scoreline that the Sri Lankans would have a tough time chasing.
With captain Kohli now a married man, Rohit's wedding present for the Indian skipper would be an ODI series win. Kohli has been playing consistently since the beginning of the season and complained of a 'cramped schedule' due to less preparation between the tours. Well, Kohli was eventually relieved of his duties for the remainder of the Sri Lankan tour after hammering the visitors in the Test series with his two double hundreds. Kohli was given a break and is now a married man. With Rohit shouldering his responsibilities, he has surely made him and the nation proud.
Celebrations are in store after the match, as he would celebrate his 16th ton, his third double hundred and his second marriage anniversary in style.
