On Wednesday, Rohit Sharma became the first batsman to hit three double centuries in one-day internationals as he smashed unbeaten 208, only his third highest score. His epic knock, laced with 12 sixes and 13 fours in 153-ball stay, powered India to a 141-run win over Sri Lanka in the second match to level the three-match series at 1-1 in Mohali.
This was his second double ton against Sri Lanka, after his career-best 264 back in 2014. He also has a 209 against Australia in 2013. All three of these have come when the Mumbai batsman opened the innings.
However, believe it or not, Rohit was not actually considered to be an opening batsman for a long time. He batted much lower down the order, at No 6 more often than not. But it was former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni who saw the talent for big-hitting and promoted him to the top.
“We felt he was bit of a waste of talent if he was batting at No 6 for us because more often than not he wasn’t getting enough chance to bat as our top-order was quite fixed. We couldn’t really make him play or give him enough opportunities,” Dhoni had said during the 2015 World Cup in Australia after Rohit had scored yet another big hundred. He had smashed 137 off 126 balls in the quarterfinal against Bangladesh at the MCG.
Watch the full video for the explanation here: