Rohit Sharma begins new innings in Test with a bang

India began their 3-match Test series against South Africa as the favorites. Although the primary goal for Kohli’s team is to remain on the top of the table of World Test Championship, India has a lot of other aspects to focus on during this series. India began the series without their star bowler Jasprit Bumrah, and first-choice all-rounder Hardik Pandya.
They gave preference to Wridhhiman Saha which is undoubtedly a setback for India’s future plan around Rishabh Pant. The young keeper was declared by the selectors as the preferred keeper across the formats and was being groomed accordingly so that he could take the place of Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the future. But his shot selection and the way of getting out kind of irked the team management and they called back Saha for the Test series against South Africa.
Apart from all these issues, there was one more vital aspect of India. After his terrific showcase at the World Cup 2019 when Rohit Sharma was kept out of the final Test eleven against West Indies, it raised a lot of eyebrows. A lot of fans and experts questioned the judgment of the management. Although Rohit Sharma’s venture with the longer format was not terrific thus far everyone asked for his second chance. Experts suggested the opening slot for Rohit Sharma, especially after the constant failure of KL Rahul. Sourav Ganguly, former Indian skipper gave a nod to the same and went on to compare how he utilized Virender Sehwag in the same way in Test and the rest is history.
For Rohit Sharma, it was important to get another opportunity to prove his mettle as a complete batsman. No wonder Test cricket is still regarded as the most appropriate and classic format of the game and players have to go through the scanner before getting a chance to sport the white cloths. Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career, getting a chance in the Test series against South Africa and playing a few goods knocks also mean cementing a place at least for the long home season ahead.
So it was a real test for the 32-year-old when Virat Kohli chose to bat first after winning the toss. Rohit Sharma who failed to score in the practice match against the Proteas was there to save his Test career. The limited-overs legend who has more than 10000 runs in that format. Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career walked in with just 27 Test caps to his name and 1585 runs at an average of 39.62.
Rohit started slowly and scored only 17 runs in the first hour of the match. But as they say, slow but steady wins the race, Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career was exactly following the same rule. He was never in a hurry. He took enough time to open up. Eventually, he came into his own and started playing his shots. When Rohit along with his partner Mayank Agarwal went at lunch with 91/0, he was on 52. He equaled Rahul Dravid’s record of six consecutive fifty-plus scores at home. His early five scores are 82, 51*, 102*, 65 and 50*.
One hour post-lunch and Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career and fans started the count down for his fourth Test ton. He finally did it and took just 154 balls to reach the hundred in the 54^th over of the first innings of India and added a feather in Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career. With this ton, Rohit also became the fourth Indian to slam a century in maiden innings as an opener for India after Shikhar Dhawan (187 vs Australia in Mohali 2012/13), KL Rahul (110 vs Australia at SCG in 2014/15), Prithvi Shaw (134 vs West Indies at Rajkot in 2018/19).
Rohit Sharma became the first Indian opener to register a hundred each in all three international formats – Tests, ODIs, and T20Is. Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career joined Chris Gayle, Shane Watson, Martin Guptill, Brendon McCullum, Ahmed Shehzad, Tamim Iqbal, and Tillakaratne Dilshan. He also joined Everton Weekes (Nov 1948 – Feb 1949), Rahul Dravid (Nov 1997 – Mar 1998) and Andy Flower (Mar 1993 – Nov 2000) to register 50+ scores in six consecutive Test innings in India.
Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal never opened a Test innings together earlier. But at the end of the day, the duo remained unbeaten with 202 on the board. Rohit Sharma is currently batting on 115 and Mayank Agarwal is on 85. They became only the seventh Indian opening pair to add 100+ in first innings together.
A Mankad and Farokh Engineer were the first to do so against Australia in Kanpur (1969/70) while KL Rahul and Parthiv Patel were the last to do so in Chennai against England (2016/17).  This was also the third 100+ opening stand overall in 2019 in Tests following New Zealand’s 254 and Sri Lanka’s 161.
Currently, Rohit Sharma has an average of 98.22 in Tests in India. Rohit Sharma Test Cricket Career has leveled Don Bradman’s home average of 98.22 in 33 Tests. The way Rohit played today reflected his intention and determination. Apart from breaking and making a number of records, what Rohit Sharma did is to do his job with absolute perfection. His approach to the game today, in all likelihood saved his Test career for the time being certainly.
Now his focus should be giving the right direction to this new beginning, working on this good start, making the most of the opportunity just like he did today.