Ranchi: Rohit Sharma joined an elite company of four cricketers on Sunday (October 20) after he scored his maiden Test double century, against South Africa on the second day of the third and final Test of the Freedom Series (Gandhi-Mandela Trophy).

The right-handed opening batsman reached to the milestone with a six off Lungi Ngidi in the 88th over of the Indian innings. He was soon dismissed for a superb 212 off 255 balls with 28 fours and six sixes. Kagiso Rabada took the wicket.

Also read: Rohit Sharma hits record 13 sixes

When 32-year-old Rohit reached his double ton today, he became only the fourth batsman in cricket history to hit a score of 200-plus in both Tests and ODIs. He already has three double centuries in ODIs.

Also read: Records broken by Rohit Sharma

Sachin Tendulkar, Chris Gayle and Virender Sehwag are the other three batsmen to have hit 200-plus in both the 50-over and five-day formats. Both Gayle and Sehwag have hit triple tons too in Tests.

The ongoing series has been a memorable one for Rohit. He was promoted to open the batting and he marked that with twin centuries in the opening Test in Visakhapatnam.

So far, Rohit has hit a record 19 sixes in the series. India have already sealed the series with an unassailable 2-0 lead. They are aiming to complete a 3-0 whitewash and are favourites to do so. The current series is part of the ICC World Test Championship (WTC). India lead the table with 200 points.

Batsmen with double centuries in Tests and ODIs

Sachin Tendulkar

Virender Sehwag

Chris Gayle

Rohit Sharma