When Sachin scored a double ton at Gwalior against SA, people would have thought that one man who can outplay this record or chase it will be none other but Virender Sehwag. But no one would have thought that this will be accomplished so early and so comfortably.
One thing is quite clear, scoring a double ton takes aggressive batting with a strike rate around 130. In a match of 300 balls, where ideally you will be facing 150 balls, that too when u play full 50 overs, scoring a 200 is a very challenging job. Sachin, the God of Cricket was the first such person to score a 200 not out playing till the end of the match and today his opening partner for plenty of matches, Sehwag has scored 219 playing till 47th over. I wonder he would have crossed even 250 if he had batted till end.
A total of 400 in an ODI has happened a very few times so far and India has done it 4 times including this. SA and SriLanka both have done it twice earlier.
The way Sehwag played this inning was fabulous and very very interesting what you may call a complete 'Paisa Wasool' in local dialect. Most of the balls Sehwag played was either a boundary or a brilliant stop by some windies player. Crossed 50 in 41 balls, 100 in 69, 150 in 112 and the previous world record 200 in just 140 balls. With this inning he has become the highest scorer in both ODI and tests for India. It also produced highest total ever by India and highest individual score in ODI overall.
What makes it more interesting is that both the double tons in ODI has been scored in Madhya Pradesh itself. You will see it written on a welcome board at MP : 'Welcome to Madhya Pradesh. Batsmen die to come here and bowlers come to die here.'
