Sri Lankan Opener Pathum Nissanka breaks the record of the great Sanath Jayasuriya
The opener of Sri Lanka cricket team Pathum Nissanka created history in the first ODI being played between Sri Lanka and Afghanistan in Pallekele. He became the first batsman from Sri Lanka to score a double century in an ODI.
Apart from this, he also broke the record of Sanath Jayasuriya while playing the biggest innings in ODI for Sri Lanka. Jayasuriya played an inning of 189 runs on 161 balls in the ODI played against India in Sharjah in October 2000. But Nissanka went ahead of them. Pathum Nissanka completed his double century with 136 balls. Nissanka scored an unbeaten 210 runs in 139 balls.
In this inning, the Sri Lankan batsman hit 20 fours and eight sixes. With the help of this explosive inning by Nissanka, Sri Lanka scored 381 runs at the loss of three wickets in 50 overs in the first ODI against Afghanistan.
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Nissanka became the batsman who played the 5th highest innings in ODI. He equaled Fakhar Zaman. He has become the 10th batsman to score a double century in ODIs, while he is the first batsman from Sri Lanka to achieve this feat. He had a partnership of 182 runs for the first wicket with opener Avishka Fernando in the first ODI against Afghanistan. After this, he also made a partnership of 120 runs in 71 balls for the third wicket with Sadira Samarawickrama.
When Nissanka scored a double century, Sanath Jayasuriya was sitting in the stadium. Earlier, the record for the highest score for Sri Lanka was in the name of Jayasuriya. He is the third-fastest batsman to score a double century in ODIs.