A lot depended on Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul if India were to bounce back after conceding a 99-run lead in the ongoing fourth Test at The Oval in London.
As it has been on most occasions in this series, the openers, India’s standout batsmen on this England tour, again got their side off to a solid start on Saturday braving overcast conditions, though they still trailed by 16 when Rahul fell to James Anderson.
However, the 83-run opening stand laid the perfect foundation for India. Rohit then brought up his maiden overseas Test hundred in style with fine support from Cheteshwar Pujara as the visitors moved to 270 for three in their second innings before Day III’s play ended early due to bad light.
Ollie Robinson’s double strike in the first over with the second new ball lifted England’s spirits a little bit, but captain Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja (again promoted to No.5 ahead of Ajinkya Rahane) averted further trouble to extend India’s lead to 171.
The pressure now is back on England who need to introspect for squandering a golden opportunity of taking at least a 150-run lead in excellent batting conditions on Day II.
They need to be clear about how they should be dealing with Rory Burns. Apart from inexplicably manufacturing ways of getting dismissed, he had put Rohit down on Friday evening when the latter was just on six. He let go a half chance on Saturday morning too, but his bungle late on Friday has hurt England badly enough.
Top-class batting
All said and done, Rohit deserves kudos for his great temperament right through the series and top-class shot selection, which has been one of the most important factors behind his first Test century away from home. Ensuring that the let-offs didn’t affect his concentration or rhythm, Rohit remained watchful during the entire first session when the likes of Anderson, Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson kept pegging away in the off stump channel.
He remained unflustered even when Rahul perished at a tricky period, and once India started building on their lead, he gradually went back to his natural game on a pitch still pretty good for batting although the odd ball is keeping a shade low.
There certainly couldn’t have been a more majestic way for Rohit than depositing Moeen for a huge six to bring up his eighth Test century, also his slowest so far.
A fair amount of credit needs to go to Pujara as well as he played with intent right from the outset that helped him register his second half-century in the series and also made matters easier for Rohit. Importantly, Pujara has looked better in almost every second innings on the tour.
Stat-o-sphere
⚫ Rohit Sharma registered the 8th Test century of his career, his first away from home.
⚫ Among Indian batsmen, Rohit had the most Test centuries (7) at home before his first away century. Mohammed Azharuddin had six centuries at home before his first away hundred.
⚫ This is the third time in his Test career, Rohit has reached his 100 with a six. Among Indians, only Sachin Tendulkar has done it on more occasions — a record six times.
⚫ Playing his 43rd Test and 74th innings, Rohit reached 3000th run of his Test career, the 23rd Indian batsman to do so.