Stats: Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka become the first pair to post consecutive 200 stands in ODIs
Prior to Dickwella and Gunathilaka, five pairs have put on 150+ stands in consecutive innings in ODI cricket
Sri Lankan opening pair Niroshan Dickwella and Danushka Gunathilaka put on a double century stand in the 4th match of the 5-match ODI series against Zimbabwe at Hambantota following up their 229-run stand in the previous match in the series at the same venue. Thus, the duo became the first ever in ODI history to share double century partnerships in consecutive innings. In fact, no pair has put on back to back double hundred stands in ODIs for a specific wicket.
Prior to Dickwella and Gunathilaka, five pairs have put on 150+ stands in consecutive innings in ODI cricket including the Sri Lankan set of Asanka Gurusinha and Aravinda de Silva in 1996 World Cup at home. Of those 5 pairs, two managed to share 150+ stands in consecutive ODI innings for the opening wicket; Saleem Elahi and Taufeeq Umar in 2002 and Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock in 2013.
Pairs with 150+ stands in consecutive ODI innings:
| Pair | Wicket No | Partnership | Inns No | Opposition | Venue | Date |
| Aravinda de Silva, Asanka Gurusinha | 3 | 172 | 2 | Zimbabwe | Colombo (SSC) | 21-Feb-1996 |
| 3 | 183 | 1 | Kenya | Kandy | 6-Mar-1996 | |
| Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar | 3 | 157* | 2 | New Zealand | Sharjah | 12-Apr-2001 |
| 3 | 172 | 1 | Sri Lanka | Sharjah | 13-Apr-2001 | |
| Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan | 5 | 155 | 1 | Sri Lanka | Sharjah | 17-Apr-2002 |
| 4 | 161 | 1 | New Zealand | Karachi | 21-Apr-2002 | |
| Saleem Elahi, Taufeeq Umar | 1 | 159 | 1 | Zimbabwe | Bulawayo | 24-Nov-2002 |
| 1 | 154 | 1 | Zimbabwe | Harare | 27-Nov-2002 | |
| Hashim Amla, Q de Kock | 1 | 152 | 1 | India | Johannesburg | 5-Dec-2013 |
| 1 | 194 | 1 | India | Durban | 8-Dec-2013 | |
| Niroshan Dickwella, Danushka Gunathilaka | 1 | 229 | 2 | Zimbabwe | Hambantota | 6-Jul-2017 |
| 1 | 207 | 1 | Zimbabwe | Hambantota | 8-Jul-2017 |
With the help of this double hundred stand, the Sri Lankan pair became only the 6th set of openers to score multiple double century partnerships in ODIs. Out of the six, Dickwella-Gunathilaka is the 4th opening pair from Sri Lanka to share two or more double century stands in ODIs. Only Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene pair have put on three 200+ stands for the first wicket in ODI cricket.
Multiple double hundred stands in ODI cricket by opening pairs:
| Partners | Team |
| Rameez Raja, Saeed Anwar | Pakistan |
| SC Ganguly, SR Tendulkar | India |
| ST Jayasuriya, WU Tharanga | Sri Lanka |
| DPMD Jayawardene, WU Tharanga | Sri Lanka |
| TM Dilshan, WU Tharanga | Sri Lanka |
| N Dickwella, MD Gunathilaka | Sri Lanka |
(Stats as on July 8, 2017)
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