When Rohit Sharma sank South Africa with twin centuries in Vizag Test

Aakash Saini

Rohit Sharma [Source: @BCCI/x]Rohit Sharma [Source: @BCCI/x]

Rohit Sharma continues to be celebrated as one of modern cricket’s most exquisite stroke-makers across all formats, despite retiring from Tests and T20Is for Team India. Few in world cricket blend grace and destruction quite like the legendary Indian opener, whose mastery at the crease has made him a bowler’s nightmare for nearly two decades.

While his white-ball brilliance has often hogged the limelight, there came a moment in red-ball cricket that redefined his legacy altogether. For instance, among the 12 Test tons he plundered in his 67-match career, two arrived in the same unforgettable match, the 2019 Vizag Test against South Africa.

Throwback to Rohit Sharma’s 176 and 127 at breakneck pace vs SA

Rohit Sharma was tasked to open the innings for Team India in a Test match back in October 2019 during a three-match series against the visiting South African team. Opening alongside Mayank Agarwal at the VDCA Stadium in Vizag, the vintage opener mauled South Africa’s bowling attack with a scintillating 176-run knock from just 244 balls, glittering the innings with 23 graceful boundaries and six towering sixes.

Sharing a 317-run opening stand with double-centurion Agarwal, their collective heroics catapulted the Indian total to 502-7d. The innings also marked Rohit Sharma’s only fourth Test century at the time, and his first since getting promoted as an opener.

A couple of days later in the same match, the seasoned pro tonked his fifth Test ton and his second while opening the innings, this time smearing 127 runs at a breakneck pace from 149 balls with 10 fours and seven cracking sixes. Becoming only the sixth Indian cricketer to register centuries in each innings of a Test, that too in his first match as opener, Rohit Sharma’s second innings hurricane turbo-charged the Indian total to an exhilarating 323-4d in just 67 overs, thus setting up South Africa a huge target of 395 before Mohammed Shami and Ravindra Jadeja sealed India’s big victory.

Nonetheless, Rohit Sharma’s twin centuries in the game not only sealed a huge win for Team India, but it also marked the dawn of his second coming as a Test opener, years after having established himself as the nation’s premier ODI and T20I opening batter.

Needless to say, for aggregating over 300 runs in the game with blistering scores of 176 and 127, Rohit Sharma fittingly won the ‘Player of the Match’ award as Team India heralded the home leg of 2019-21 WTC on a triumphant note.