February 24, 2010, exactly 11 years back, Sachin Tendulkar became the
first-ever batsman in men’s international cricket to hit a double-century in One
Day Internationals. Remaining unbeaten in a 200-run innings off 147 balls, the ‘master
blaster’ led India to an easy win against a formidable opponent in South
Africa, registering a 153-run in the process.

Tendulkar hit a notable 25 boundaries and three over-boundaries in his
innings to bring about the unforeseen feat.

Prior to the innings, the highest score in ODI matches was held by Zimbabwe’s
Charles Coventry, who also had played an unbeaten knock of 193 runs a year back
in 2009 against Bangladesh.

There was tense suspense around the achievement, with the largely
awaited moment coming at the third ball of the final over for the Indian
innings. Tendulkar remained on 199 the entire over prior to it.

Since the day, three other batsmen in world cricket have managed to
hit double centuries in ODI matches, including India’s Rohit Sharma, who hit alone
has hit three of them, while also holding the highest individual score in the format
(264, against Sri Lanka in 2014).

Tendulkar till now holds the greatest number of runs in One Day
International as well as Test cricket, having scored 18,426 and 15,921 runs in
the two formats respectively, as well as a total of 100 international
centuries, an achievement untouched by any other batsman so far.