The diminutive Ishan Kishan was delighted to score the fastest double hundred in ODI cricket history but rued about missing out on a golden opportunity to become the first triple centurion in the format.
Playing only his 10th ODI, the 24-year-old displayed fearless batting as he shattered Chris Gayle’s record of fastest (138 balls) double century in the format when he took just 126 balls to the milestone. India posted a huge 409 for eight. He was out for 210 in the 36th over of the Indian innings.
“I got out with 15 (14.1) overs left. I could have got 300 also,” Kishan told the broadcasters ‘SonyLiv’ at the innings break.
The Jharkhand left-hander became the fourth Indian batter to score a double hundred.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma has scored it thrice including his highest ODI score of 264 while Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag have scored once each.
“I am blessed to hear my name between such legends. The wicket was too good to bat on. My intent was very clear — if the ball is there, I’ll go for it,” he revealed about his strategy.
His record-breaking knock came in the company of Virat Kohli and Kishan credited the star India batter to “calm him down” when he was approaching his maiden century.
“I was batting with Virat bhai, and he was spot on with which bowlers I needed to select [to target].I was on 95 and wanted to bring up the hundred with a six but he calmed me down, saying it was my first hundred, get it in singles as it’s your first,” he said.
Kishan is very close to Suryakumar Yadav, who has told him to bat before the start of the game.
“I had a chat with Surya bhai – he said when you bat before the game, you see the ball well. I didn’t take too much pressure on myself. Just wanted to make use of the opportunity,” Kishan said.
