Indian captain Virat Kohli won a very important toss in the morning at Chepauk. In the second Test match against England, India’s start was not ideal as Shubman Gill got the first Test duck of his career inside two overs. India lost two more wickets before lunch including captain Kohli for a five-ball zero. The ball from Moeen Ali pitched on a spot and exploded in a puff of dust. A confused Kohli waited for the television umpire to confirm that he had, indeed, been bowled.
At the other end, Rohit Sharma was batting as if he was playing on a different track. While volumes have been written on his masterful batting and brilliant shot-making ability, an almost similar number of words have been spent on his average performance overseas. While Rohit averages 83.55 at home, the number dips to 27 overseas. This massive difference is near-unprecedented in the history of the game and definitely does not justify his calibre.
But this was home, his comfort zone, and he took charge from the onset. Rohit scored 161 runs out of 248 during his time at the crease. He did not merely keep the spinners away: he took them on, hitting 18 fours and two sixes on a pitch that did not behave too differently from a fifth-day strip.
Thanks to Rohit, despite losing three wickets before lunch, India scored 106 runs in 26 overs with a run-rate above four. Rohit scored 80 of these runs (13 fours, 1 six) at over a strike rate of over a hundred; had England bowled their thirty overs in time, he might have got the much-coveted hundred in the first session of a Test match.
After lunch, he got an able ally in Ajinkya Rahane, and they helped stabilise the innings. Rohit slowed down, shifting his focus towards playing a long innings. The hundred was delayed as a result: he did not get there until the 42nd over. Both Mumbai batsmen looked in control and India did not lose a wicket in the middle session.
After tea, Rohit Sharma reached his fourth Test 150 amidst cheers from the Chennai crowd who got their money worth. By that time, the shots had returned, and the fourth-wicket partnership reached 150. He survived a tight stumping call off Jack Leach, but was soon dismissed by the same bowler while going for an uppish sweep that Moeen caught comfortably .
This was the Rohit’s seventh Test hundred; as expected, all of them have come in India. However, this was a special innings, given the assistance the pitch has provided to the spinners so far. A score of 400, or even 350, may come handy.
Riding on Rohit’s hundred, India reached 300 by stumps on Day 1. If their Indian spin trio of R Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, and debutant Axar Patel can capitalise on this foundation, India should not have a problem levelling the series.