Ind vs NZ: Shubman Gill joins elite club of Sachin Tendulkar & Rohit Sharma with ODI double ton

Promising cricketer Shubman Gill has joined the elite club of great players like Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma by hitting an ODI double century against New Zealand. He is the fifth Indian batsman to score an ODI double ton.

The right-handed batsman scored his double century in just 145 balls and brought up the feat with a massive six at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. 

In the process, Gill also became the quickest Indian to score 1,000 runs in ODI cricket in terms of the number of innings.
The record of reaching the 1,000 run-mark fastest by an Indian was jointly held by former captain Virat Kohli and veteran opener Shikhar Dhawan. Both Kohli and Dhawan had taken 24 innings each to reach the milestone. It was five more than Gill who achieved the feat in just 19 innings.

Gill is overall second fastest to reach the milestone after Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman. He is jointly in the second spot with Imam-ul-Haq. While Zaman took as many as 18 innings to reach the 1,000 run mark, Imam took 19, as many as Gill.

Dropped on 45, the opener brought his third ODI ton in just 87 balls. He went on to score his first double-century in ODIs in just 145 balls. Gill scored 208 runs off just 149 balls that included 19 boundaries and nine sixes. He was finally caught in the deep by Glenn Phillips of Henry Shipley’s bowling. Gill with his marathon knock also became the highest run scorer in a single inning against the Black Caps. 

The right-handed batsman’s master class ensured India post a huge target of 350-run for the Kiwis to chase in the first ODI of the three-match series.