It seemed only a cramp or a painful neck could stop him. Shubman Gill scored the quickest double-century and the highest score in an ODI chase as India absolutely strolled to only the second successful chase of over 400 in ODI cricket in just 43.3 overs.

His partner during India's biggest partnership in a chase - 255 - was Rohit Sharma, the only other man to have scored multiple double-centuries in ODIs. Gill's was every bit the innings to headline the first match in ODI history to feature five centuries, four of them among the five quickest in India-West Indies ODI cricket.

The conditions in Guwahati offered the bowlers nothing: little swing, little seam, negligible turn, hardly any variable bounce or loss of pace in the surface, no reverse swing. The outfield was lightning quick with many a defensive push hurtling across for four. It still needed skill, discipline, intent, appetite and fitness from batters to do what was done. And at the age of 27, with 11 hundreds and 31 fifty-plus scores in just 69 matches, Gill, who ended up with the highest score for a captain, might just have the most of all those qualities in ODI cricket today.

It should put in perspective Kuldeep Yadav's analysis of 10-0-65-2, which made him the second-quickest Indian to 200 ODI wickets, and Naman Dhir's part-time offspin that went for just 38 in 6.1 overs before he got injured. India also had debutant Auqib Nabi's comeback to thank for, after they lost Prasidh Krishna to injury after he had bowled five overs. The last 11 overs produced 82 for 5, which eventually might have been the difference between an easy chase and what might have tested India.

India needed every bit of resourcefulness they could muster in the face of injuries to their bowlers and remarkable batting from John Campbell, who scored West Indies' fifth-quickest century in 65 balls, Shai Hope, who went past Brian Lara's tally of 19 hundreds, Amir Jangoo, who started against the old ball and still went as quickly as Campbell in his 114 off 77.

From the time Campbell took apart the seventh over of the afternoon, bowled by Krishna, a stunned full house in Guwahati watched in pindrop silence as West Indies raked up 50 boundaries. The first signs that this was going to be a hopeless day for the bowlers was when Hope found his first boundaries through gentle pushes down the ground.

It took for Kuldeep to come on in the 12th over for there to be an over without a boundary. The quiet didn't last long as Campbell drove him over extra cover for six in his second over. That, after just having had treatment from swinging hard in the heat and humidity.

Campbell's work was done in just 18.1 overs, having registered West Indies' joint-quickest half-century against India and scored 101 out of 147 runs while he was at the wicket.

West Indies had had a similar start in the last match but fell away after they lost Campbell. Here, though, Hope and Jangoo made sure India had to work harder. When a partnership puts together 182 runs at nearly nine an over, you expect some brutal hitting, but what Hope and Jangoo did was anything but. Even when Jangoo accelerated to take 55 off the last 23 balls he faced, he hardly played a shot in anger.

If there could be criticism of a batting unit that scored 405 runs, it was that all three centurions fell to what can be termed soft shots. After Campbell pulled a regulation short ball from Gurnoor Brar to deep square leg, Hope repeated his last dismissal by going against the turn of a Kuldeep googly, and Jangoo cut Ravindra Jadeja straight to point to give him his first wicket in 46.3 overs since he got Temba Bavuma out last December.

Sherfane Rutherford repeated Campbell's dismissal for a golden duck, Keemo Paul hit Kuldeep straight to long-on, and Nabi strung together three tight overs at the end.
West Indies had reinforced their attack with the addition of Shamar Joseph and left-arm spin of Vitel Lawes. Jayden Seales even made a good start to the defence with a testing first over during which Gill nearly played him on. However, from the moment Alzarri Joseph opened the tap in the second over with ordinary lines and length, the deluge never stopped.

For a long time Gill and Rohit kept matching each other shot for shot. If Rohit was quick to get out of the blocks and reached 35 off 27, Gill welcomed S Joseph to the crease with a four and a six to get to 36 off 21. Paul then provided Rohit with a second free hit of the night to see him to a 32-ball fifty.

By the time Paul came back in the 15th over, Gill was beginning to move into another gear where he was hitting even good balls away. Charging the quicks, then pulling the consequent short balls, and having his way with the part-time offspin of Roston Chase, Gill quickly overtook Rohit never to look back. At 62 balls, it was Gill's quickest century and the quickest of the night.

By the time Rohit got to his century in 72 balls and highstepped the 100th run in celebration, Gill had raced away to 142 off 82 balls. It included taking 18 off an over from West Indies' best bowler, Seales, who went onto get Rohit out for 101 with the one ball that happened to seam in appreciably off the surface.

There weren't enough runs left there for Virat Kohli to be able to score another hundred, but he scored an entertaining 29 off 19 before being brilliantly caught on the fence by Rutherford.

The night, though, belonged to Gill, who has shown repeatedly that there needs to be something extraordinary in the surface or the bowling to test him. He hit 34 of India's 56 boundaries and celebrated with his helmet on top of the bat handle, a little like Chris Gayle, who was often evoked on a day of special batting. (Cricinfo)