5 batsmen who could join the 200 club in ODI cricket

Here are five potential candidates to score a double century in ODIs in near future.

When New Zealand’s Glenn Turner scored 171* against East Africa in the World Cup in 1975, it was the first score over 150 in ODIs. His record was broken by India's captain in 1983 World cup, Kapil Dev when he played one of the greatest innings in ODI history and scored 175* against Zimbabwe.

Viv Richards then hit 189* against England in 1984 to own the record and the record stood till 1997 when Saeed Anwar of Pakistan hit 194 against India in the Independence Cup at Bangalore.

One-day international format, which began in 1971, had to wait 39 years for its first double century in the men’s game (Australia’s women cricketer Belinda Clark scored 229* against Denmark in Women’s World Cup in 1997 in Mumbai).

Sachin Tendulkar of India scored the first double hundred in 2010 against South Africa, a score of 200*. Since then, five more batsmen have scored double centuries in ODI cricket, with India’s Rohit Sharma leading the way with three double hundreds in the game, including the highest score of 264. The latest member of the 200 run club was Pakistan’s Fakhar Zaman, who scored 210* against Zimbabwe.

In line with the theme, Team COC lists five other batsmen who have the potential of scoring a double century in ODI cricket, given that they bat in the top order and are aggressive in nature.

Here are 5 batsmen who could join the 200 Club in ODIs

QUINTON DE KOCK (SA)25-year-old South African wicketkeeper-opener in ODIs, Quinton de Kock has shown that he has the knack of taking on the bowlers right from the word go in One-Day cricket. De Kock came into prominence when he hit three consecutive ODI centuries against India in a three-match series in 2013 and since then, has been a prolific scorer for the Proteas.

De Kock’s highest score in ODIs is 178 and it came against Australia in 2016 at Centurion in a chase of 295 runs. De Kock has shown a tremendous appetite for scoring runs at a quick rate and his strike rate of 94.23 tells the story. Given that he has scored 13 centuries in just 95 games and that he opens the innings in ODIs for South Africa, De Kock has every chance of becoming the first South African to score a double hundred in ODIs and break Gary Kirsten’s long-standing record of 188* created in 1996 World Cup.

EVIN LEWIS (WI)

26-year-old Trinidadian Evin Lewis came into prominence by smashing a brilliant 125* against India in a T20I game in the USA in 2016. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength in limited overs format for the West Indies.

Lewis has designed his game on the West Indies great Chris Gayle and by his own admittance; he likes to hit big sixes like Gayle. Lewis’s highest score in ODIs is 176 off 130 balls with 17 fours and 7 sixes against England in 2017. He took West Indies to 356/6 in 50 overs. The innings was one of pure brutality and power hitting at its best.

Lewis’ shortcoming is his consistency and once he solves that problem, no one can stop him from emulating Gayle and becoming a double centurion in ODI cricket. He plays spin well and is at his murderous best against fast bowlers and given that he has already hit 24 sixes in 35 ODI matches, the day is not far away when he will register the magical 200 for West Indies.

JASON ROY (ENG)

England opener Jason Roy recently registered the highest score by an English batsman in ODIs- 180. This score came in 151 balls with 16 fours and 5 sixes against Australia at MCG in 2018.

Roy has scored his 2422 ODI runs in 65 matches at a strike rate of 104.35 and this gives an indication of how good this batsman is at destroying bowling attacks. He clearly loves to go after the bowling and take advantage of the first 10 overs of power play. Roy keeps going after the bowling and is adept enough to take on the best spinners as well.

Roy is definitely looking for that double hundred and he will go after it if he gets a chance to do it again.

AARON FINCH (AUS)

Aaron Finch has been in top form in recent past and that includes his gobsmacking 172 in 76 balls with 16 fours and 10 sixes in a T20I game against Zimbabwe. Finch is the only batsman to have two 150+ scores in T20Is and the first player to get 900 rating points in T20I rankings.

Aaron Finch has also played 93 ODIs for Australia, scoring 3361 runs with a best of 148 and a strike rate of 90.30. Finch’s aggressiveness has been overshadowed a bit by his opening partner David Warner, but with Warner banned, Finch has been handed the limited overs captaincy of Australia and his presence at the top order is ominous for the opposition.

Finch has shown that he can take on both spinners and quick bowlers and hit them out of the ground with similar disdain. Given his penchant for hitting sixes and keep going with the same momentum throughout his innings, he is one of the top contenders of joining the double century club in ODIs soon.

VIRAT KOHLI (IND)

Indian Captain Virat Kohli holds the record for the fastest ODI century by an Indian, in 52 balls against Australia in 2013. Kohli has notched up the second highest number of ODI centuries – 35 and is on the verge of making 10,000 runs in the format.

He has three 150+ scores in ODIs- 183, 154* and 160* and is gradually looking for an opportunity when he gets to bat more than 40 overs coming in at no.3 in ODIs and if things go well, we can see Virat Kohli getting a double hundred sooner or later. Kohli is never satisfied with just a 100 and wants to score as many runs as possible even after getting to the milestone.

Given that he also scores his runs at a good pace and his strike rate in ODIs is 92.12, something that even openers don’t have. This indicates that Virat Kohli might end up with a double century or two in the ODI format before he retires.