Chris Gayle bludgeoned his way into the record books by becoming the first player to score a double century in the World Cup.
The West Indies rode on the big-hitting opener's record knock of 215 off 147 balls, which included a record-equalling 16 sixes, to post an imposing 372 for 2 against Zimbabwe, in Canberra, on Tuesday.
PHOTOS: Gayle smashes FASTEST double ton
The World Cup, as never before on Rediff.com
It was the left-hander's first century since June 2013, the ton coming off 105 balls after the two-time winners opted to bat at the Manuka Oval.
He reached his double ton off 138 balls, hitting Tendai Chatara for a boundary.
Check out the numerous records Gayle broke en route to his smashing innings of 215 from 147 balls:
0 No batsman had scored a triple hundred in Tests, a double hundred in One-Day Internationals and a hundred in Twenty20 Internationals till today, February 24. Chris Gayle, in scoring 215 against Zimbabwe, became the first to achieve the unique treble.
215 Gayle’s innings of 215 is the highest in the World Cup, surpassing South Africa’s Gary Kirsten’s 188 not out against the UAE in 1996.
3 His innings is the third highest in all One-Day Internationals, behind only Rohit Sharma’s 264 (vs Sri Lanka at Kolkata in 2014) and Virender Sehwag’s 219 (vs West Indies at Indore in 2011).
1 He is the first West Indies batsman to score a double hundred in One-Day Internationals. The country's previous highest was 189 not out by Viv Richards against England at Manchester in 1984.
5 Number of individual double hundreds in One-Day Internationals. Rohit Sharma hit two, while Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle hit one each.
138 Number of balls taken by Gayle to race to his double hundred – least for any batsman in One-Day Internationals. The previous record was held by Sehwag with 140 balls.
16 Number of sixes hit by Gayle in his innings. He now shares the world record of most sixes in an innings with Rohit Sharma (vs Australia at Bangalore in 2013) and AB de Villiers (vs West Indies at Johannesburg in 2015).
4 Number of 150-plus scores for Gayle in One-Day Internationals. Only Tendulkar (5) has more such scores. Sanath Jayasuriya also has four scores of 150 and more.
372 Runs added by Gayle and Marlon Samuels for the second wicket. This is the highest partnership for any wicket in all List 'A' cricket, beating the unbroken 367-run partnership between Morne van Wyk and Cameron Delport for Dolphins vs Knights in South Africa domestic One-day tournament in 2014. The previous highest in a One-Day International was 331 for the second wicket between Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid against New Zealand at Hyderabad in 1999.
105 Number of balls taken by Gayle for his first hundred runs. He took only 33 more balls to score his second hundred, reaching from 151 to 200 in just 12 balls!
