Top-5 fastest double centuries in ODIs
For the first three and a half decades of ODI cricket, the 200-run barrier never seemed to be out of bounds, but wasn't, even for once, ever breached. Several came close, but men's cricket had to wait for Sachin Tendulkar to do the honour of opening the double century account in coloured clothing.
Once he managed to leap past the hurdle, others followed suit, and suddenly, 'Mt. 200' wasn't a far-fetched milestone anymore. Broader bats and the ferocious striking that is associated with T20s pushed the par scores up and ensured that the double century column kept finding new entrants as the game progressed.
Here, we look at the fastest innings that resulted in a double century - the fewest balls taken to reach the coveted '200' mark.
Rohit Sharma has made the club his own, he has as many as three entries in the list, the first been back in 2013. That innings, against Australia, sealed his spot as one of the best limited-overs openers in the game and followed it up with two more, the subsequent year, as well as in 2017.
New Zealand's Martin Guptill ensured that home advantage was used to the optimum by his side during the 2015 World Cup, blasting a double hundred off just 152 balls against the West Indies, which is the sixth-fastest innings in terms of balls faced.
Here are the top-five fastest innings to reach 200:
#5 Rohit Sharma (151 balls - final score 264 off 173)
Just about a year after his mind-boggling double century against Australia, Rohit Sharma managed to repeat the feat against the humble Lankans, squeezing the life out of them to register the highest ever score by a batsman in the history of ODIs.
As is always the case, Rohit started slow, getting a feel of the conditions even if he appeared scratchy. To collect his first 10 runs, he consumed 22 balls. But once the floodgates opened, there was no holding back for him.
With ample support from Virat Kohli, and later Robin Uthappa, Sharma kept going for his strokes, even if the humidity sapped him out completely. The misfields and dropped catches from the Lankans added to their own plight, as he drilled back to back boundaries in the 45th over to achieve the magical mark.