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Virender Sehwag’s monumental 219 against WI that turns cricket on its head

Kaushik Kashyap

Virender Sehwag after his double century vs WI. [Source - AFP Photos]Virender Sehwag after his double century vs WI. [Source - AFP Photos]

December 8, 2011, the cricketing world witnessed an innings of a lifetime from Virender Sehwag, who became the second man to score a double century in ODI cricket. Just months after master-blaster Sachin Tendulkar became the first man to score an ODI double ton, Sehwag rose to the stage to do it again and went a few steps further of the milestone.

In Indore against the West Indies, the Indian stand-in captain produced an innings so audacious, so ruthless, and so utterly fearless that it redefined the boundaries of ODI batting for a generation.

Revisiting the Indore epic: The day Sehwag hit second double century in men's ODI

On a crisp winter afternoon in Indore, with India needing victory in the fourth ODI to clinch the five-match series, the stage looked perfect. The pitch promised runs, and Sehwag, after winning the toss, decided to bat first.

From the very first ball, Sehwag slipped into his trademark aggressive zone as a storm wrapped in cricketing genius. Opening alongside Gautam Gambhir, he unleashed a blistering assault that powered a 176-run opening stand. 

While Gambhir held the supporting role, Sehwag dismantled the West Indian attack with ruthless precision, punishing anything even slightly off line, and bringing up his century in just 69 balls.

The carnage continued when Suresh Raina joined him. Another 140-run stand, again with Sehwag as the primary destroyer, ensured India’s total was heading toward the extraordinary. As the innings progressed, the crowd sensed history building again, just a few months after Tendulkar’s pioneering double in Gwalior against South Africa.

In the 44th over, unthinkable unfolded before everyone's eyes, facing Andre Russell, Sehwag reached his double century in 140 balls. Though visibly tired, the adrenaline of becoming only the second man in ODI history to cross 200 kept him going. He finally fell for 219, an innings studded with 25 fours and 7 massive sixes, powering India to a monumental 418/5.

West Indies never truly recovered from the assault and went down without much resistance, handing India a 153-run win. While Rohit Sharma would later surpass the 219 mark with his remarkable unbeaten 264 three years later, Sehwag’s score still stands as the highest by an ODI captain.

With 8,273 ODI runs, Sehwag’s career was built on one philosophy and that was fearless freedom. That mammoth innings in Indore was the finest reflection of his revolution, batting with no limits, no fear, and no hesitation. A knock for the ages.