Countless times I've started a blog centered around the first ever ODI double-ton only to have it thwarted by batsman upon batsman finishing in the 180s, or 190s in the case of Saeed Anwar and Charles Coventry.

This fine day, however, I stand here loud, proud and fulfilled, having witnessed Sachin Tendulkar's near unbelievable feat in Gwalior.

While my esteemed colleague, Tristan Holme, deals with the intricacies and sheer carnage of Wednesday's 200-run wallop, I feel obliged to bask in a self-indulgent ode, which I trust many of you will relate too.

I may not have been around for Viv Richards' 170-delivery destruction of England en route to 189 not out in 1984, but the flummoxed double has met my disappointed eyes on more than the odd occasion.

Take for instance, the time my grade-10 biology teacher, Mr Marshall (bless is patriotic soul), smuggled a television into his classroom, affording the small cricket-loving contingent among us the opportunity to view Gary Kirsten's boundary-by-boundary dissection of the United Arab Emirates in 1996. More disdain for Daryl Cullinan than praise for Kirsten enveloped me on the occasion, as dear Daryl failed to afford 'Gazza' enough strike for the double.

Remember when Coventry equalled Anwar's 194 against the Tigers last year? I was there - in front of the television - baying, hoping, wishing for six more runs off the final ball of the match. It was a touch too much to ask of the bespectacled Zimbabwean, with just two skewed to long-off having to do.

Sharjah bore witness to Sanath Jayasuriya's Champions Trophy final annihilation of India in 2000. I clung on in anticipation then, all the while giggling at Venkatesh Prasad and company's bowling figures, only to have them laugh back at me with the consolatory 189-run departure of the 'Master Blaster'.

Lest I forget the matches Mahendra Dhoni and Ganguly took Sri Lanka to the cleaners in 1999 and 2005 respectively. Those blitzkriegs certainly got the hopes flowing, with 17 sixes shared between the big-hitting duo. Dhoni, in particular, could have gone bigger than big had he not pipped the 299-run target across a mere 46.1 overs that fateful day in Jaipur.

Then, there was Matthew Hayden's left-handed lavish in Hamilton, 2007. If any knock ever pledged more, only not to deliver, it was this one. Dead set for 200 and beyond in an extreme 350-plus chase, 'Haydo's had to settle for 181 not out in the wake of death-bowling specialist Mark Gillespie's sensational penultimate over and Adam Voges and Cameron White's errant hogging of the strike.

This isn't Tendulkar's first foray into the realms of 180-plus, it must be noted. Hyderabad was the stage for his belligerent banging through the hapless Kiwis in 1999. One Chris Drum (nought for 85 across nine plighted overs) relives Sachin's savagery through nightmares aplenty to this day.

Of course, many other 170-odds buffer the coffers - Hamilton Masakadza's 178 not out against Kenya, Herschelle Gibbs' 175 in the famous '438/9' affair, Dave Callaghan's Centurion theatrics and Tendulkar's curtain-raising 175 against the Aussie in Hyderabad, to name but a few.

All pale in comparison to what the Gwalior faithful - and I, thank you very much - witnessed on Wednesday. Sweet serendipity, indeed, has come to pass 2962 ODIs down the line. It's only fitting that the man with the most runs and most ODI tons has eclipsed a near impossible milestone.

Next up: 250...