It was on this very day in 2014 that Rohit Sharma made the world believe that there are no limitations in cricket by surpassing the then highest individual score in ODIs — 219 from Virender Sehwag — and setting a new milestone of 264 runs which lasts till date.
On November 13, 2014, the crowd at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata didn’t know that they were going to witness a historic feat that would long for years.
Sri Lanka, who had been trailing 0-3 by the time in the five-match series, were playing India in the fourth ODI. But eventually, it was only Rohit Sharma who played with the hapless Lankan bowlers with a massive 264 off 173 balls — an innings which was studded with 33 boundaries and 9 massive sixes.
Sri Lanka could only curse their luck as Thisara Perera dropped Rohit when the latter was batting on 4. Riding on his new lifeline, Rohit butchered the Sri Lankan bowlers, tonking them in every nook and cranny of the ground.
“On this day in 2014, Rohit Sharma went big! The Indian opener smashed 264, the highest ever ODI score. The worst part? Sri Lanka dropped him when he was on 4,” ICC tweeted on Wednesday reminding the cricket world about one of the most famous innings played in ODI cricket till date.
Rohit was dismissed on the final ball of the Indian innings, but not before powering India to a mammoth 404 for 5.
In reply, Sri Lanka were wrapped up for 251 and lost the match by 153 runs.
In total, Rohit has scored an innings of 200 and above thrice in his ODI career till now. Apart from him, Sachin Tendulkar (200* against South Africa in 2010) and Virender Sehwag are the other two Indians who have reached the milestone in ODIs.
Belinda Clark of Australia was the first batter in the entire world to score 200 runs in an ODI innings. On December 16, 1997, Belinda had played a scintillating knock of 229* against Denmark Women at the MIG Club Ground in Mumbai.