India’s young striker Ishan Kishan scored a record shot in the third and final ODI game of the series against Bangladesh at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium in Chattogram as he landed a double century with just 126 balls. He became the seventh batter in the world to achieve the feat and the fourth from India after Sachin Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Virender Sehwag.
Ishan has never been the first-choice player for India’s XI. However, regular skipper Rohit Sharma’s thumb injury in the second ODI, which ruled him out of the third game, opened up an opportunity for the youngster and grabbed it with both hands in hopes of defending the ODI World Cup 2023.
Batted first, India lost the opener, Shikhar Dhawan, early in the innings, for just 3 of 8; Ishan then combined with former skipper Virat Kohli in impressive fashion to set up a stand of more than 200 points for the second wicket. Kohli, en route, notched his 65th tally in half a century and the first in eight ODI innings, while Ishan battled his way to the double century, hitting the massive figure in just 126 balls.
With the feat, which made him the seventh ODI batter to score a double century, Ishan broke West Indies great Chris Gayle’s record for fastest 200 in an ODI inning. Gayle had hit the 200 mark on 138 balls against Zimbabwe in 2015, en route to hitting 215 in 2015.
His double centenary also made Ishan the best one-inning run-getter by a hitter visiting Bangladesh as he edged Australia’s Shane Watson (185* in 20111) to the feat. He also overtook former India skipper Sourav Ganguly to become India’s top individual goalscorer in an away game opener. Ganguly had scored 183 against Sri Lanka at Taunton in 1999. It is now the highest personal tally against Bangladesh by any batter in the men’s ODI.