Ranking all eight ODI double hundreds

#4 Chris Gayle 215 vs Zimbabwe

Gayle had shown once and for all that he was a big game player

Throughout his career, Chris Gayle has been accused of not showing up when it really mattered. He made brilliant hundreds in domestic T20 leagues all over the world but struggled in the World T20.

He made two triple centuries in test cricket but never managed to replicate that consistently against great bowling attacks. He was a great ODI batsman, but his only World Cup hundred before 2015 was against Kenya.

However, in the 2015 World Cup, Gayle managed to dispel those concerns by playing an absolutely legendary ODI innings against Zimbabwe.

While he wasn’t exactly facing a world-class bowling attack, the pressure of a World Cup game makes this innings remarkable.

The first part of the innings was rather strange, as Gayle managed to get one of his slower centuries (in 105 balls) and even played a maiden against Zimbabwean part-timer Sikander Raza.

Even more worryingly, his partner at the other end Marlon Samuels struggled and took more than a hundred balls for his fifty.

Yet as soon as Gayle got to his century, it was pure mayhem. He deposited Tendai Panyangara’s short balls over the boundary on multiple occasions with thunderous pull shots. He also took on Zimbabwe’s medium-pacers Hamilton Masazadza and Elton Chigumbra with his trademark elevated straight drive.

However, special punishment was reserved for leg-spinner Tafadzwa Kamungozi who was smashed for 21 runs in one over - Kamungozi has not played since.

In the end, Samuels also got going and the duo finished with the highest partnership in ODI history. Gayle had shown once and for all that he was a big-game player.

#3 Rohit Sharma 264 vs Sri Lanka

Rohit Sharma's 264

264. Once upon a time (around a decade ago), 264 was a very good ODI score. In fact, it is still a serviceable total, especially in high-pressure games.

Yet in 2014, Rohit Sharma managed to achieve that individually - the type of remarkable record that will probably not be eclipsed for decades.

However, like his other two double centuries, Sharma started at a timid pace. In fact, there was the period between the 16th and 24th over, where Sharma did not hit a single boundary as he and Virat Kohli instead preferred to rotate the strike.

The Mumbai batsman’s fifty came at a pedestrian 72 balls - a strike rate for which he would have been criticized if he had gotten out.

But he didn’t get out, instead accelerating in a manner that cricket has very rarely seen. Nuwan Kulasekara's full balls were smashed across the park. The ‘mystery’ of Ajantha Mendis was fully unravelled for the final time as he was pelted by the unforgiving Sharma.

In fact, Sharma’s second, third, fourth and fifth 50s came in 28, 25, 26 and 15 balls.

By the end of his innings, Sharma had destroyed careers, cemented India’s psychological edge against Sri Lanka in ODIs and changed what we thought we knew about 50 over cricket - all in one inning.

Nonetheless, the rather mediocre quality of the attack and the meaningless nature of the game (a bilateral ODI series where many key players were rested) prevents this remarkable innings from topping the list.

#2 Sachin Tendulkar 200* vs South Africa

Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar throws

It was a sunny day in Christchurch when Sachin Tendulkar had a chance to achieve one of the few feats that he (or anyone for that matter) hadn’t accomplished in cricket: an ODI double century.

The Master Blaster had flicked, driven and pulled his way to 163* with five overs to go. At that point, his 36-year-old body finally gave in as a rib injury forced him to retire hurt, much to the chagrin of cricket fans everywhere. It seemed as if the injury had stopped Tendulkar from becoming the first man to score an ODI double hundred.

Yet once more, Tendulkar was there to prove his doubters wrong. In a series that pitted two of the best ODI teams (at the time) against each other, India was looking to take an insurmountable 2-0 lead in Gwalior.

Little did they know, that winning the game was going to feel like a small bonus to the history that was made on that day.

Right from the beginning of the innings, Tendulkar seemed like a man on a mission. His first fifty came in 37 balls - the quickest on this list.

The Little Master actually slowed down from that point onwards as he tried to build a partnership with Dinesh Karthik- his second fifty took 53 more balls. As soon as he reached his hundred, one could sense that his eye was on the double as he accelerated rapidly.

The finest fast bowler of his generation: Dale Steyn was made to feel like an ordinary medium pacer with figures of 10-0-89-0.

Meanwhile, Tendulkar helped end the careers of Charl Langevelt and Roelf Van der Merwe, who played a combined nine ODIs for South Africa after this game (Van der Merwe later migrated to the Netherlands for whom he still plays).

In fact, the Master Blaster could have made far more - having reached 196 with four overs to go.

However, cramps seemed to have gotten to the Little Master- because of which MS Dhoni dominated the strike with Tendulkar only facing five balls after that point. It was still enough for him to reach the first double century in ODI cricket history.

What made this innings so remarkable was the fact that it was not a typical ODI double century - Tendulkar only hit three sixes.

Instead, Tendulkar flayed South Africa’s brilliant bowling attack with classical batting, hitting 25 fours- only eclipsed by Sharma’s 264 since.

The 25 fours included seven lovely flicks, three classical leg glances, two industrious square drives, four beautiful elevated straight drives, one effective pull and of course, eight of the most beautiful cover drives you will ever see.

It was an ode to classical batting and one that won’t easily be forgotten, no matter how many double centuries are made.

#1 Martin Guptill 237* vs West Indies

Martin Guptill treated a World Cup quarter-final like the Hong Kong Super Sixes

There have been 42 World Cup knockout stage (quarter-finals, semifinals or final) matches since the first World Cup in 1975.

In those games, only 19 centuries have been scored. Many legends including Tendulkar (though he made four fifties), AB De Villiers, Sanath Jayasuriya, Rahul Dravid and Jacques Kallis failed to make a single one.

Yet on 21st March 2015, Martin Guptill treated a World Cup quarter-final like the Hong Kong Super Sixes.

New Zealand was coming against a West Indies bowling attack that wasn’t exactly brilliant but had managed to bowl out an average Pakistan side for 160 earlier in the tournament.

However, the Kiwis had finished top in their group and had inspired cricketing fans across the nation in the process. From the very beginning, Guptill exhibited that very spirit with a cut that went for four on the very first ball.

Yet, Guptill’s innings was almost over before it began. On his third ball, he flicked a full Jerome Taylor ball only for Marlon Samuels to drop the chance.

From that point onwards, Guptill slowed down as he made a mundane fifty in 64 balls. He continued to play a measured innings and reached his century after an additional 37 balls.

However with 15 overs to go, not many would have anticipated what was going to follow. Guptill took advantage of the batting powerplay as he smashed his way to 45 runs in the next 5 overs, perfectly setting himself up for the final 10 overs.

In that period, he bludgeoned his way to 92 more runs. While Tendulkar’s innings was aesthetically more impressive and Rohit’s was more colossal, Guptill’s performance under high pressure makes it the best ODI double century.

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