ENG vs IND: Rohit Sharma Breaks Hoodoo With Aplomb

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Throughout this English summer, notwithstanding it being uninvitingly cold, clammy and cloudy, Rohit Sharma has looked like conquering the conditions and scoring a Test century.

After promising to do so in more than one of his previous innings on the tour, he finally accomplished the distinction on the third day of the ongoing fourth India-England Test match in a series of five engagements. And with the feat he broke the hoodoo of not having recorded a three-figure knock in Tests outside India.

Sharma is too good a batsman not to have registered a hundred abroad. It was inevitable, a matter of time before he rectified the anomaly. He squandered opportunities in this series as well, throwing away his wicket twice, hooking ill-advisedly. But he finally made amends, completing his task with a flourish -- a towering six over long on at the expense of Moeen Ali.

In the course of his essay, he offered a difficult chance and a half-chance to Rory Burns in the slips. But these were minor blemishes compared to the authority and array of his strokes in general. Given the grimness of a 99-run deficit staring down at India, he paced himself perfectly.

Circumspect for a considerable period; then the characteristic Sharma. He consumed 145 balls to cross his first 50 -- the slowest of his career; his second half-century came off just 59 deliveries.

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