Just a raise of the bat and acknowledging the cheers. That was all Rohit Sharma’s celebrations were about at the Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium — now known as the Niranjan Shah Stadium — on Thursday.
Completely subdued in the first two Tests of the ongoing series, the pressure was so much on the India captain going into this third Test that greater trust was being shown on youngsters Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, both much less experienced than Rohit.
But as the saying goes, form is temporary and class is permanent. Rohit (131) proved that once again, just as he had done in the third and final T20I against Afghanistan last month after back-to-back zeros.
Against Afghanistan too on that evening in Bangalore, India were reeling at 22/4 before Rohit smashed an unbeaten 121. Here too it’s a flat wicket, but a much better bowling attack which had India tottering at 33/3 with the reliable duo of Jaiswal and Gill snapped up by Mark Wood’s extra pace and movement.
But then, class players know when to deliver, and Rohit did so. Ravindra Jadeja (110 batting), promoted to No.5 in the order ahead of debutant Sarfaraz Khan, also carried out his responsibilities like a true senior player in spite of having to face a ball that was barely nine overs old.
Together, they carved out a partnership of 204 for the fourth wicket that took India to 326/5 at stumps on Day 1. It would be fair enough to say India hold the upper hand at present, primarily thanks to Rohit and Jadeja although Sarfaraz (62) was equally solid on debut.
Lesson for youngsters
Copping a blow on the helmet off Wood before James Anderson hit him on the box, the survival button that Rohit had pressed kept pulling him. In between, he had a leg-before decision off Anderson’s bowling overturned by the DRS before Joe Root shelled a relatively easy chance at slip off left-arm spinner Tom Hartley. Rohit was on 27 then.
He made sure it turned out to be a costly error. Wood tried to pepper both Rohit and Jadeja with the short stuff, while Anderson attempted to shape the ball in towards the Indian skipper on a continuous basis.
But Rohit’s focus was on the grind. So was Jadeja’s. And in between, Rohit chanced his arms against Hartley and got those boundaries which were like oxygen to him as he eventually was able to tide over the tough phase.
“Rohit often tends to be watchful in Test cricket, which is one of the essentials. Being watchful helped him a great deal today (Thursday), especially against Wood, who was looking to trouble him more,” former India and Mumbai opener Wasim Jaffer told The Telegraph.
“In context of the situation, he did exactly what was required and then began playing the game that comes to him naturally.”
“You don’t poke at everything thrown at you outside the off-stump with hard hands. You need to know which ball to leave and which one to play. Rohit has shown the younger generation how it needs to be done,” former India keeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta, commentating in this Test, emphasised.
Concentration
The clever move from captain Ben Stokes in his 100th Test — placing three fielders in the mid-wicket region with Wood digging it short to Rohit — earned England the breakthrough out of nowhere. That was the opening England were looking for, but they couldn’t breach the Jadeja wall.
Wood kept targeting the spinner all-rounder’s rib cage, but the latter was equal to the task. Of course, the slowness of the track helped Jadeja in doing so with Sarfaraz’s cameo too being vital in their 77-run fifth-wicket stand. But Jadeja certainly deserves credit for not letting his concentration waver following Rohit’s dismissal.
And when the ball was in his zone, he ensured there were no half-measures, as he comfortably eased to what was a thoroughly deserved hundred, his fourth in Tests.
