Indian skipper Rohit Sharma notched up his 11th Test ton and his eighth as an opener in Test cricket on day 1 of the Rajkot Test. India finished on 326/5 with Rohit and Ravindra Jadeja smashing centuries.
Rohit who scored his 11th Test ton added a 204-run stand with Jadeja who was unbeaten on 110 at stumps. Rohit scored 131 off 196 deliveries and his innings was decorated by 14 fours and three sixes.
Rohit scored his last Test on in February 2023 and was under huge pressure coming into this innings. His last few scores in Test cricket were 24, 39, 14, and 13 before his century which broke his run of poor scores. The Indian skipper got starts but was not able to convert those stats. Having finally done that in Rajkot he would be relieved.
Rohit’s innings was crucial given that India were jolted early and the batting lineup did not have the likes of Virat Kohli and KL Rahul who are amongst the senior batters alongside Rohit. He was beautifully backed up by Jadeja who made a return to the Test side after his hamstring injury. He scored a century on return and went past 3000 Test runs in the process.
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Mohammad Kaif Lauds Rohit Sharma
Meanwhile, Mohammad Kaif, the former Indian cricketer said that Rohit Sharma gave a fitting response to his critics after his 11th Test ton. India were 33/3 when Rohit joined hands with Jadeja in that important partnership.
“Muh tod jawab dena, Rohit ne muh tod jawab dia hai, people who criticised him should keep quiet. He has always silenced his critics with his bat. Whenever anyone doubted his calibre he scored a century like this. I would suggest people not jump to conclusions too early. He is a good cricketer” Kaif said, as quoted by IANS.
The former Indian cricketer further backed BCCI’s decision to make it mandatory for players to play in the Ranji Trophy. The BCCI earlier this week mandated the Indian players who are playing in the IPL to play in the Ranji Trophy to be considered for the IPL.
“I guess this move came a little late. It should have come early. Cricketers must give respect to their states and play Ranji. It should not be like ‘I want to play IPL but not Ranji’. The state which gave so much exposure at the time of your initial years, you must respect it,” Kaif told reporters.
The Indian skipper went past MS Dhoni’s tally of 78 sixes in Test cricket. Rohit hit three sixes in his innings taking his tally to 80. Virender Sehwag leads the list of most sixes in Test cricket for India with 90.
Rohit Sharma also went past Sachin Tendulkar’s tally of 4508 runs across formats as captain. The list is led by Virat Kohli with 12883 runs followed by MS Dhoni with 11207 runs. Mohammad Azharuddin (8095) sits next followed by Sourav Ganguly (7665).
India made four changes to their playing XI for the third Test in Rajkot. Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel were handed their debut caps. Ravindra Jadeja replaced Axar Patel while Mohd Siraj replaced Mukesh Kumar in the XI. Sarfaraz scored 62 off 66 deliveries on his Test debut.
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