The unavailability of Prithvi Shaw and the poor form of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul meant India had to look for alternatives. The selectors and captain Virat Kohli placed their bet on Rohit to do what he has done so well in the white-ball cricket.
There’s no better way to silence your skeptics.
Rohit Sharma, in his maiden avatar as an opener, put all the doubts behind to score a masterclass hundred in the first Test between India and South Africa. And with that, he became the first Indian player to score a century in each Test, ODI and T20I as an opener.
????????@ImRo45 #INDvSA pic.twitter.com/BsqCeWdTQm
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 2, 2019
The unavailability of Prithvi Shaw and the poor form of Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul meant India had to look for alternatives. The selectors and captain Virat Kohli placed their bet on Rohit to do what he has done so well in the white-ball cricket.
He was dismissed for a two-ball duck in the South Africa’s sole warm-up game.
Nevertheless, the captain backed him up. Kohli said that he doesn’t expect Sharma to follow a certain style and but to use his natural instincts.
"We are looking forward to Rohit playing his natural game at the top" - @imVkohli ???????? #TeamIndia #INDvSA @paytm pic.twitter.com/yCKPxhwSsu
— BCCI (@BCCI) October 1, 2019
And that’s exactly what he did at Vishakhapatnam.
Indians with a 100 while opening for the first time in Tests:
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) October 2, 2019
Shikhar Dhawan (187 v Aus, Mohali, 2013)
KL Rahul (110 v Aus, Sydney, 2015)
Prithvi Shaw (134 v WI, Rajkot, 2018)
Rohit Sharma (100* v SA, Visakhapatnam, 2019)#INDvSA
The seasoned campaigner that he is, Sharma weathered the first half an hour along with Mayank Agarwal and then led the charge. The hitman smoked four sixes to reach his century—the most by an Indian Test opener in this decade—and then swiped another one over the square leg boundary.
Just about perfect session for India. Win toss bat first. Negotiate the brief period while the new ball is threatening. Go hard at the spinners. Build a solid platform. So often, the first session of a test has a bearing on the series.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 2, 2019
Sharma is only the second Indian player after Rahul Dravid to score six consecutive fifty-plus scores in home Tests.
Rohit Sharma’s last six home Test innings:
82, 51*, 102*, 65, 50*, 115* (batting)
Earlier, India won the toss and chose to bat. The look on the face of SA captain Fat du Plessis said it all: it was a wry look of resignation.
While winning the toss is no guarantee for success for visiting teams, lose the toss and you can pretty well kiss the Test goodbye in India. So dominant have India been at home since the start of 2013, losing only one Test at home out of 29.
So Rohit Sharma has now scored Test hundreds on debut and debut as opener, six years apart. In between, his Test career has been a trial
— Sambit Bal (@sambitbal) October 2, 2019
The despondence was not unfounded as India’s dominance became apparent after some early discomfort against the new ball.
After 59.1 overs, at the time of first stoppage, India were 202/0. Mayank Agarwal in his first innings at home as a Test opener has gone up to 84*, which is his highest score as well.
200-plus opening stand in the maiden innings together for an Indian pair in Tests:
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) October 2, 2019
Sehwag/Dravid v Pak, Lahore, 2005/06
Vijay/Dhawan v Aus, Mohali, 2012/13
Agarwal/R Sharma v SA, Vizag, 2019/20*#INDvSA