Rohit Sharma is the only batsman in history to have scored three double centuries in ODI cricket — 209 vs Australia (2013), 264 vs Sri Lanka (2014), and 208* vs Sri Lanka (2016) — an achievement so statistically remote that no other player has scored more than one.
Before Rohit Sharma, ODI double centuries had been considered once-in-a-career achievements. Sachin Tendulkar's 200* in 2010 was the first, followed by others. Rohit made the format feel personal — accumulating three in the space of three years.
Rohit Sharma had been India's ODI opener since 2013. He combined a sound defensive technique with the ability to accelerate through the second half of an innings. His conversion rate from century to double-century — three out of three attempts — is statistically unprecedented.
209 vs Australia at Bangalore (2013): highest ODI score at the time, beat Gayle's 215. 264* vs Sri Lanka at Kolkata (2014): current world record. 208* vs Sri Lanka at Mohali (2016): third double century, confirming the pattern was not coincidental.
No other batsman in the 50-year history of ODI cricket has scored more than one double century. Rohit has three. The statistical improbability of this is confirmed by the fact that between 2010 (Tendulkar's first ODI 200) and 2024, only seven players total have scored ODI double centuries. Rohit has three of those seven.
His 264 remains the highest individual ODI score and the margin between his record and the next-highest (Guptill's 237) is 27 runs — the second-largest gap ever held between consecutive record-holders.
209 vs Australia (2013) — first double century
264 vs Sri Lanka (2014) — world record at Eden Gardens
208* vs Sri Lanka (2016) — third double century, unique achievement confirmed
November 2013
209 vs Australia at Bangalore — first ODI double century
November 2014
264 vs Sri Lanka at Kolkata — world record
October 2016
208* vs Sri Lanka at Mohali — third double century
Three ODI double centuries is cricket's most freakish individual batting achievement in the format. It requires not just talent but a combination of conditions, form, and the specific type of innings-building that Rohit alone has produced three times.
Rohit's three ODI double centuries form a landmark cluster that confirms his status as the most prolific ODI run-scorer of big innings. They also confirm that the ODI format, played over 50 overs, can produce individual performances of genuinely historic scale.
Australia vs West Indies
1960-12-14
The first tied Test in 86 years of cricket history — Australia and West Indies finished level on 737 runs each after five days of breathless cricket in Brisbane, producing one of the most dramatic finishes the game has ever seen.
India vs Australia
1986-09-22
Twenty-six years after Brisbane, cricket produced only its second tied Test — Dean Jones's heroic 210 through crippling heat and Dean Jones's fever, Ravi Shastri's unbeaten 48 and India needing 2 off the last over, only for Maninder Singh to be out lbw off the final ball.
Australia vs South Africa
1999-06-17
Lance Klusener smashed Australia to the brink of elimination, then ran out Allan Donald off the penultimate ball to tie the match — but Australia advanced to the final on superior run rate, ending South Africa's greatest World Cup campaign in devastating fashion.