"I was ready to bat another 50 overs" - When Rohit Sharma delivered a stunning remark after scoring his 264*
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma's promotion up the order was one of the pivotal moments in the team's fortunes. Playing as an opener, he forged a solid chemistry with Shikhar Dhawan, beginning with a successful 2013 Champions Trophy campaign before cementing the spot.
Although the runs, the average, and the number of hundreds scored by Rohit can be rivaled, his incredible feat of scoring three ODI double-hundreds is unlikely to be breached anytime soon. A small fraction of batters are lucky enough to scale the mark once in their career, and Rohit managed to do it on three separate occasions.
The second of those three memorable innings was the one that dominated the headlines as he recorded the highest individual score in the format's history. He sent the cricketing world into a frenzy by smashing an unbeaten 264 against Sri Lanka in the fourth ODI in 2014.
Rohit played out the entire 50 overs, opening the innings with Ajinkya Rahane and finishing the act with Robin Uthappa. Usually when batters play such a marathon innings, especially under the blazing sun and humid conditions like the subcontinent boasts, fatigue and cramps are inevitable with complete exhaustion being the end result.
However, Rohit Sharma scored most of his runs towards the end, maintaining his reputation as someone who makes the most of a start and a platform. He slammed 33 fours and nine sixes, and the fact that he was coming off a break due to an injury layoff, led him to believe that he could bat for even longer.
"After a few months' break, so I'm not really tired, I was ready to bat another 50 overs," Rohit said after his match-winning innings (via ESPNcricinfo).
"But yeah, jokes apart, I was determined and dedicated to getting a big one. Once I got to fifty, I knew that I had to convert, because it was a good batting wicket. The scores here, even 300-350, are easily chaseable. We wanted to get a big score and that made me stay there as long as possible," he added.
Sri Lanka could not come close to Team India's imperious total of 404 runs. In fact, they collectively fell short of Rohit's individual tally by 13 runs.
"I was feeling a little out of place" - Rohit Sharma on struggling initially in his record innings
After Virat Kohli elected to bat first, Rohit Sharma struggled against the Sri Lankan new ball bowlers but took his time to find rhythm after his absence due to injury. He took 72 deliveries to reach his half-century but switched gears effortlessly once he got the hang of the conditions and found his rhythm.
"The initial part, the first 10-15 overs were not easy. Coming back from an injury, playing after two months, I was feeling a little out of place. The free-flowing strokes were not coming as naturally as it comes to me, but I wanted to get stuck in the middle and that required a lot of dedication and determination," Rohit said in the same interaction.
"I kept telling myself that no matter what, how many balls I play, I need to stay there because I know I can [make up the scoring rate] any time. That was the idea," he added.
His third ODI double-hundred came two and a half years later against the same opposition in Mohali.