“I was ready to bat for another 50 overs” was the call from India’s Rohit Sharma just after he had blasted his way into the history books with the highest individual score in a one-day international.
Sharma’s staggering knock of 264 – 45 more than any other batsman has managed in an ODI – during India’s fourth ODI against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata steered India to 404 for 5 as they defeated a broken Sri Lanka by 153 runs.
Sharma’s innings knocked his fellow countryman Virender Sehwag from the top of the record list. Sehwag set the ODI record in 2011 when he scored 219 runs against West Indies and his feat was made all the more impressive by the fact that this was his return to cricket following a 10-week injury lay-off.
The 27-year-old, who left the Eden Gardens pitch under a guard of honour formed by his team-mates, said that after his injury he was just glad to have time in the middle. “I was determined and dedicated to getting a big one,” he said.
“Once I got to 50, 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. Kolkata is a very special ground to me – I made my first-class debut and Test debut here.”
Sharma’s innings started unconvincingly and he was dropped when he was on just four. However, within 20 overs his strokeplay had become nothing short of brutal. He batted throughout, only holing out to long-off on the final ball of the innings.
The first century came at a run a ball, which seemed relatively pedestrian in comparison to the 164 Sharma then smashed from just 73 balls in an innings that contained 33 fours and nine sixes.
In addition to demolishing the individual highest-score record, he also passed the record for the most number of fours struck by an individual batsman in an ODI. Sharma also became the first and only batsman to register two double centuries in ODIs.
