Canberra, Feb 24 (IANS) While their batting styles may not be similar, cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and West Indies’ devastating opener Chris Gayle chose the same day — Feb 24 — to score their respective One-Day International (ODI) double-centuries.
If on Feb 24, 2010, Tendulkar entered the records books by hitting the first ever ODI double-hundred, exactly five years on, Gayle slammed a 147-ball 215 to score the World Cup’s first and only double-ton Tuesday.
The coincidence does not end only with the day, both batsmen ended up playing exactly the same number of deliveries — 147.
The coincidence has caught the imagination of cricket buffs with many of them taking to social networking sites to spread the information — and quite a few calling Gayle’s effort as a tribute to Tendulkar.
Gayle’s majestic innings against Zimbabwe in a Pool B clash at the Manuka Oval here made him the only non-Indian in the 200-plus club. The southpaw is now also the only player to score a 300 in Tests, 200 in ODIs, and 100 in Twenty20s.
The others in the ODI double-ton club are swashbuckling opener Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma, who besides achieving the feat twice also holds the record for the highest individual score with an incredible 264 against Sri Lanka last year.