NEW DELHI: Talented Shubman Gill is on top of the world at the moment as the Indian opening batter showed his masterclass with a roaring maiden ODI double century against New Zealand at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Gill (23 years 132 days) also became the youngest player to attain the feat as he surpassed teammate Ishan Kishan (24 years 145 days), who recently struck the fastest-ever double hundred in men’s ODI cricket in the third and final ODI against Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram.
Batting on 182, Gill reached the landmark in style as he hit Kiwi paceman Lockie Ferguson for three back-to-back humongous sixes to complete his 200.
Gill is the fifth Indian men’s batter overall to score an ODI double hundred. Rohit Sharma has three double hundreds in ODIs. Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gayle, Fakhar Zaman and Martin Guptill have hit one double-century each.
Opting to bat, Gill blazed his way to 208 off 149 balls with the help of 19 boundaries and nine sixes to power India to an imposing 349 for eight.
In the process, Gill rewrote record books as he also became the fastest Indian to score 1000 ODI runs. Gill took only 19 innings to attain the milestone, surpassing Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan's record of 24 innings.
Overall, Gill is also the second best along with Imam-ul-Haq after Pakistan's Fakhar Zaman who took 18 innings to score 1000 ODI runs.
Gill, who shared 60 runs stand with skipper Rohit Sharma (34) for the opening wicket, scored an 87-ball century - which was studded with 14 boundaries and 2 sixes - before going ballistic.
Daryl Mitchell (2/30) and Henry Shipley (2/74) picked up two wickets each for the visitors.
