Rohit Sharma further consolidates his opening slot with 6th Test ton; 3rd as opener during final Test vs SA
Rohit Sharma and the opening slot would certainly make for a better love story than the Twilight, right? While it escalated his value as a white-ball cricketer since 2013, the same is beginning to unfold in the purest format of the game. In the ongoing India-South Africa Test series, Rohit was promoted up the order and slammed consecutive tons in his maiden Test as an opener; the first-ever to do so.
On Day One of the third Test, in Ranchi, Rohit once again continued his stellar run as an opener and registered yet another hundred in the series. Thus, this became his sixth Test ton and 3rd as an opener in only his fourth outing. He had missed out in the sole outing in Pune, but more than made up for it during the first day’s play of the dead rubber in Ranchi.
With India reduced to 39 for 3, including the dismissals of skipper Virat Kohli, Cheteshwar Pujara and Mayank Agarwal, Rohit stitched an unbeaten 100-run stand with vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and helped himself to the significant feat. The right-hander did fail to read the lengths of the pacers, time and again, but didn’t throw his scalp. He applied himself in the middle and registered a well-crafted knock with some sublime shots on the off-side and pull strokes off the short-pitched deliveries.
While Rohit resorted to the aerial strokes at times, it has been his discipline which has impressed many in his current knock. In this series, Rohit stands atop in the first place in terms of the highest run-scorers and has passed the 400-run mark in the process.
Further, Rohit also joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, Graeme Smith and David Warner with most centuries (9) by an opener in a calendar year in international cricket. In addition, he now has the most number of sixes in a Test series (17) followed by Windies’ Shimron Hetmyer and Harbhajan Singh.
Will he convert this into a daddy hundred, as often is the case with him in the limited-overs format.
