India vs South Africa: Rohit Sharma's dream run as opener continues, slams another century
Rohit Sharma can't put a foot wrong, even if he wanted to. The Mumbai batsman reached his fifth Test century on the fourth day of the ongoing Test against South Africa in Visakhapatnam, making an electrifying start to his role as an opener in the Indian team.
Notably, before this game, Rohit scored his last century for India in whites in 2017, but has reached the three-figure mark in both the innings of the ongoing Test. This also makes him the first batsman to score a hundred in both the innings of the maiden Test as the opener.
The 32-year-old made an aggressive start to his innings, even as opening partner Mayank Agarwal was dismissed cheaply this time. With India in need of relatively quicker runs, Rohit Sharma took on the South African bowlers and scored at a strike rate of nearly 70 to reach his half-century in 72 deliveries. During this time, Rohit also went past former Indian batsman Navjot Singh Sidhu to hit the most number of sixes on home soil.
The Mumbai batsman also surpassed former South Africa/Australia batsman Kepler Wessels to score the highest number of runs in maiden Test match as an opener during the innings.
Rohit was experimented for the opening role after the only remaining position in the middle-order was sealed by Hanuma Vihari during the tour to the West Indies last month. The 32-year-old batsman had missed both the games of the series, and the team management had then decided to promote Rohit to the opening order.
The batsman insisted that he enjoys opening and that the role suits his game more efficiently.
"I think it (opening) just suits my game, just wear the pads and bat. It was a waiting game, when I used to bat at five or six. I won't say it didn't suit my batting. Your mind is fresh, we know we have to play the new ball. You know the bowlers who will bowl the new ball, these will be the fielders, so the game plan is easier for you," Rohit had said after the end of the first day of the innings.
The duo of Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara had put on 132 runs in the second session of the day. Both the batsmen scored at an impressive run-rate of over four-per-over to put India in the driving seat.
