Indian skipper and one of the world’s most iconic limited overs cricketers, Rohit Sharma, once revealed in an Instagram live session with Ravi Ashwin in 2020 on how he ignored MS Dhoni’s advice during his maiden double-century innings.
Rohit is among the only world batters to have scored multiple doubles in the limited-overs format. Rohit Sharma has three double hundreds in white-ball cricket – a rare feat that seems quite unachievable, even in modern-day cricket.
Rohit’s maiden double-hundred came against Australia in 2013, after Rohit returned to the Indian team under MS Dhoni as an opener, and since then, the batter has never looked back. Rohit Sharma scored a terrific 209 against Australia. He reached the double century mark with a six off McKay.
During the innings, skipper MS Dhoni joined the opener when India stood 207/4 in the 34th over. This was when Rohit opened up, and Dhoni recommended him play a more stable innings in order to provide stability to the Indian innings.
Rohit narrated the incident during a conversation with Ashwin,
“During the partnership, he kept on talking and discussing things with me. He said,’ You are the set batsman, and we want you to bat till the 50th over, and I will be the one who takes chances.”
However, ignoring the advice of his skipper, he kept on his heavy carnage over the Aussie bowlers. Rohit Sharma shattered records as he hit a record 16 sixes in the game and went on to score 28 boundaries in his quest for a 209-run inning.
The most hilarious part of the inning was MS Dhoni also adapted to Sharma’s reckless approach and scored 62 runs in just 38 balls.
Rohit scored all his double centuries in the Indian subcontinent
As mentioned above, Rohit is the only batter in the world to have made this seemingly unbelievable record of three ODI double hundreds. Alongside the aforementioned hundred against Australia, which came in 2013, he went on to achieve the amazing feat on two other occasions in 2014 and 2017.
The iconic double hundred in 2014 secured Rohit’s place in record books for decades to come as he wreaked havoc with the highest individual score in ODI, posting 264* at Eden Gardens. His innings was laced with as many as 42 boundaries.
Rohit’s final double-hundred came in 2017 at Mohali against the same opponent Sri Lanka, when he scored an unbeaten 208*, which powered India to a huge 392-run total.
