A little over a month after Ishan Kishan scored a double century in the ODIs, India have another double centurion in the format to boast of as Shubman smashed a record 208 in the opening match of the series against New Zealand on Wednesday. Gill became the fifth Indian on the elite list where incumbent India skipper Rohit Sharma is the only batter to have emulated the feat thrice in his career. Moments after the big knock, which led the Men in Blue to rather narrow victory after Michael Bracewell’s threatening 140-run knock, an old tweet of Rohit on Gill resurfaced on the social-media platform and it couldn’t have been more perfect.
Gill on Wednesday became the youngest ever player to score a double ton in ODIs, breaking Ishan’s record, a feat that was first achieved by the legendary Sachin Tendulkar before Rohit smashed it with a 156-ball knock in 2013 against Australia. It was the first of his three such knocks, the next two being in 2014 and 2017.
Hence, Rohit knows what it takes to score a double ton in the 50-over format more than anyone else of has played the sport and understands the value of it as well. And although he must have congratulated him for the knock after the match, but there wasn’t a more perfect way to sum up Gill’s feat than Rohit’s old tweet from 2020.
Gill had taken to Twitter to wish Rohit on his 33rd birthday. He had written, “Well no one does pull shots better than the #Hitman Happy Birthday! @ImRo45.”
Rohit replied saying, “Thanks future.”
Rohit, however, had an elaborated statement on Gill’s knock which he mentioned it to the India star during their discussion on BCCI.tv.
“The way you constructed your innings was superb to watch because on the other side we were losing wickets at regular intervals. It is not easy for a set batsman to continue batting in a similar fashion with wickets falling on the other end,” Rohit said to Gill in a video posted by BCCI. “Our next best score is 34 after your 208, and that tells you a lot how well you batted,” he added.
