Vizag Test: Rohit ton helps India dominate rain-hit opening day

Rohit Sharma (Image - IANS)

Visakhapatnam, Oct 3 - Swashbuckling Indian batsman Rohit Sharma grabbed the opportunity to open the innings with both hands as he struck a blistering hundred on the rain-hit opening day of the first Test against South Africa at the ACA-VDCA Stadium on Wednesday.

Rohit, in his debut innings as Test opener, hit an unbeaten 115 and took India to 202/0 with Mayank Agarwal -- unbeaten on 84 -- before rain played spoiltsport soon after the umpires stopped play -- due to bad light -- for an early tea.

Having stamped his class in the maiden appearance as opener, Rohit will now look to show consistency from here on. Starting the second session at 91/0, the Indian openers put on 111 runs in the post-lunch session as the South Africa bowlers had no answer to the quality batting on display by the hosts.

The second session saw India's openers reign supreme after a caution-first approach in the morning session. Rising to the challenge handed to him by the team management, Rohit stole the show as he put on display the same elegance which sees him dominate bowlers in white-ball cricket.

After playing cautiously at the start of the innings, it was all about punishing not just the bad balls, but also the good ones as the batsman brought up his fourth Test hundred in a session that saw the Indian batsmen take the Proteas bowlers to the cleaners. The partnership between him and Mayank also saw them register India's first 100-run partnership at the top of the innings since June 2018.

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