On this day in 2015: Chris Gayle hits first-ever ODI World Cup double century

On 24th February 2015, Chris Gayle became the first man to score a double-century in the ODI World Cup. The West Indies legend achieved the incredible feat during the group-phase clash of the 2015 World Cup against Zimbabwe in Canberra. Incidentally, Gayle’s knock came exactly five years after Sachin Tendulkar became the first man to score a double-century in ODIs in 2010.

Gayle played a monumental knock of 215 off just 147 balls with the help of 10 fours and a record 16 sixes. He became the first non-Indian and fifth overall to score a double-century in the 50-over format. Before Gayle, Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Rohit Sharma had achieved the feat. Rohit had achieved the feat twice and went on to add another double-century to his name in 2018. Gayle also scored the fastest double-century during his historic knock. He broke the record of Sehwag after reaching the 200-run mark off just 138 balls. Sehwag, on the other hand, had achieved this feat off 140 balls.

When the southpaw crossed the 188-run mark during his knock, he became the man with the highest score in the ODI World Cup, eclipsing the unbeaten 188 by South Africa’s Gary Kirsten against the United Arab Emirates in 1996. Talking about the game, West Indies were off to a poor start after deciding to bat first. Tinashe Panyangara dismissed Dwayne Smith for a duck in the very first over to give Zimbabwe a solid start.

Exactly five years after @sachin_rt made the first double century in men’s ODIs, @henrygayle joined the 200 club with 215 against Zimbabwe at the @cricketworldcup, #OnThisDay in 2015! ? pic.twitter.com/JOHUE2qDBt

— ICC (@ICC) February 24, 2018

But that was the only time Zimbabwe celebrated on the field that day as Gayle and Marlon Samuels took them to the cleaners and sent them on a leather hunt with a record 372-run stand. The mammoth partnership is still the highest ever in the World Cup and in all ODIs. It bettered the 318-run stand between Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid against Sri Lanka in the 1999 World Cup. Gayle reached his century from 105 balls before blasting his second hundred in only 33 deliveries. He was out on the final ball of the innings.

Samuels also scored a century and was unbeaten on 133 as West Indies piled up 372 for 2 in the allotted 50 overs. The writing was very much on the wall for Zimbabwe and they did not prove anyone wrong. Sean Williams and Craig Ervine’s fifties helped them post a respectable 289 but they never really looked like challenging West Indies. Gayle had performed well with the ball too, picking up two wickets for 35 runs off his 6 overs as West Indies won the game by 73 runs.

Gayle’s record of the highest score in the World Cup, however, did not last long. Less than a month after his 215-run knock, New Zealand opener Martin Guptill smashed up an unbeaten 237 off 163 balls, ironically against Gayle’s team West Indies in the quarter-final.