Rohit Sharma notched his first century as Test skipper as India built on their impressive start to the first Test against Australia in Nagpur. After doing a stupendous job with the ball, India saw their captain leading from the front, slamming a 'historic' hundred on Day 2 of the opening Test. Despite wickets falling at regular intervals at the other end, Rohit (120) continued batting with composure to bring up a hard-fought century, his ninth in the format.
In doing so, Rohit became only the 4th captain in world cricket to score a century in all three formats -- Tests, ODIs and T20Is -- with the others being Faf du Plessis, Tilakratne Dilshan and Babar Azam. After creating history, Rohit celebrated in an ecstatic fashion as the entire Indian dressing room stood up and clapped for him.
On a slow track where other batters found run-scoring extremely difficult, the Indian captain (118 batting) was concentration personified on way to one of his best Test centuries.
The century effort had the same class as the 161 he scored in Chennai in 2021, with the opener putting his best food forward against the bowlers led by spinners Nathan Lyon (1/81 in 27 overs) and Todd Murphy (4/59 in 25 overs).
It took Rohit 171 balls to reach his hundred and so far he has hit 15 boundaries and two sixes off the 207 deliveries he has faced.
But the hallmark of his innings was the rotation of strike and how he traded risk for caution.
He didn't try to get to his hundred in a hurry, playing out maidens and taking singles before whipping Pat Cummins (0/50 on 11 overs) to square leg for a boundary that took his score in the 90s.
It was an inside-out lofted drive over extra cover off Murphy that brought up his hundred, and once again reiterated the theory that in adverse situations, individuals with the highest degree of skill prevail.
With PTI inputs
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