200*

A decade ago, on the evening of 24th February 2010, around 20000 people at Captain Roop Singh Stadium in Gwalior, along with million others across the world witnessed the God of Cricket create history. Sachin, as every cricket enthusiast would have guessed by now, became the first ever player in men's cricket to score a double century in One Day Internationals. The feat was achieved against South Africa in a three match bilateral series.

I remember the game to its bits and pieces. Even though my class 10th final examinations were only 9 days away, that match was somehow special from the very beginning. Those were times when Indian batting line up started with Sehwag and Sachin, a pair one could argue as the best opening pair that this generation has witnessed. After Sehwag fell early, Karthik and Sachin guided India to 219 in the 34th over. The humongous second wicket partnership of 194 set the stage for the Indian batsmen to be able to slog in the last 15 overs.  By that time, Sachin was already at 124.

I clearly remember telling my dad how Sachin had enough overs to bat with ease and reach the glorious 200 and how this would be the best one can expect from the game of which he has been an undisputed champion. He, though supporting my argument, did highlight how this has been the case for few other batsmen as well but they weren't focussed enough to be able to survive till the end. At the end of the 41st over, India reached the 300 mark and Sachin was still some 30 runs short of the feat. What happened in the next 10 overs is history.

In the span of 10 years, there have been seven other instances when a player scored 200+ in the same format of the game. Among these, the Indian hitman has stolen the show by crossing the barrier thrice. Another highlight in this regard has been the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, when Chris Gayle became the first person to achieve the milestone in a world cup game, exactly five years after Sachin. Chris' highest in a world cup match, however, was shattered in the same tournament when Martin Guptil scored 237, only a few days later.

The game of cricket has varied dynamics because of geography. While climate is one uncontrollable factor, each nation in itself has a very distinct type of pitch. Additionally, one could expect significantly bigger boundaries in Australia, while the only other nation in the same continent has a very different story to tell. Given this, it is interesting to note that among the eight instances of double centuries, only Chris Gayle and Fakhar Zaman have reached the landmark while playing away from home. It is worth mentioning that five out of eight times it has been an Indian who has scored 200+, thereby translating to the fact that five Indian cities have witnessed such a magnificent batting performance.

The dynamics of the game heavily depends on whether it is a day match or a day night match. Interestingly, only the last double century by Fakhar Zaman was a day match and all the others were a day-night match. A batsman's capability to factor in the pressure while chasing is of utmost importance. Batting first, it is little easier for a batsman as there is no specific target to achieve. However, the behaviour of the pitch is unknown. Digging deeper, one would notice how all the times that someone had scored a 200, it has been while batting first. Furthermore, in six of the games, the team won by a margin of more than 100 runs. This speaks about the mental trauma the opponent goes through when one person smashes a 200+ score.

While men's cricket is followed much more passionately around the world, Belinda Clark, an Australian female cricketer was the first to score a 200+ score back in 1997. Nonetheless, the number of times this milestone has been achieved in women's cricket is only two, the other being when Amelia Kerr, a New Zealander, scored 232 in 2018. Notably, at the end of the innings, she had a strike rate of 160, which is the highest amongst all. While 232 remains the highest ever one day individual score in women's cricket, Rohit Sharma holds the overall record for the highest score of 264.

Even though the 200 mark has been crossed a few times in the last decade, it is definitely not a common scene even today. The game has witnessed drastic changes over the years, with players playing with not just cricketing skills but psychologically as well. While Sachin's score remains the lowest among all the other 200+ scores, it definitely is a poet's dream that the one who is worshipped by the cricketing fraternity was the first one to reach there in this segment of the game.

Sachin, Sachin!!