Records galore as Rohit Sharma blazes his way to fiery 209

Bangalore, Nov 2: Indian batsman Rohit Sharma on Saturday roared his way into the history books by smashing a scintillating double century and re-wrote the record for highest number of sixes by hitting the ball 16 times over the fence on a day when quite a few other records were rewritten.

Australian bowlers bore the brunt of Sharma's fury with the young batsman producing some fireworks of his own on the auspicious occasion of Diwali.

Sharma, whose career received a lifeline after being made an opener, hit a staggering 16 sixes, eclipsing Shane Watson's 15 made against Bangladesh.

Sharma is only the third batsman in the history of one-day cricket to score a double hundred, and incidentally, all three doubles centuries have been scored by Indians.

It was Sachin Tendulkar (200) who touched the milestone first time against South Africa in 2010 and then Virender Sehwag (219) bettered that by making 219 against the West Indies in Indore in 2011.

Sharma's 209-run knock is the second highest total by an individual in ODIs and it came off only 158 balls.

The 26-year-old not only tormented the Australian bowler with 16 sixes but also hit the ball to the fence 12 times. While Sharma's first 100 came in 114 balls, the next 109 runs were scored off just 57 balls.

In an incredible show of power-hitting, India scored 100 runs in the last five overs as Sharama and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (62 off 38) went berserk. They added 167 runs for the fifth wicket, which is a record against Australia.

India's 383 for six is the highest ever total rattled up against Australia.

Incidentally, it was Dhoni who had watched Tendulkar scoring the first-ever 200 from the other end in Gwalior.

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