Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Rohit delivers another classic, puts India in complete control
Opener’s 120 helps hosts end Day 2 of the first Test on 321/7, with a lead of 144 runs against Australia
NAGPUR: The chance to make a name in Test cricket may have come quite late for Rohit Sharma but he is slowly but surely notching up Test innings of significance with such regularity that his Test portfolio is fast covering up lost ground. Numerically he may not reach the summit — he found his bearings as a Test opener in late 2019 and is already 35 — but the ODI run machine is now starting to make Test cricket look easy too.
And his 120-run masterclass at Nagpur, even as the rest of the top order failed to get going, should potentially become another addition to his many series-defining tons. The late runs added by Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel, who put on an unbroken 81-run stand for the eighth wicket, helped India reach 321/7 at close on Day 2. The lead has now stretched to 144 runs and Australia will know that they are already in big trouble.
For most of last year, Sharma the T20 opener was striving to up his power-hitting game. That didn’t work out as planned though and the frustration showed during India’s T20 World Cup campaign. But his great quality of being able to switch off and then come back fresh has helped.
His stay at the wicket stretched over four hours and was an exhibition of a player who knows how to bide his time. His innings had started on an aggressive note on Day 1 but as the wickets fell, he didn’t blink twice. He calmly changed gears and never allowed the Australian bowlers to truly seize control.
56 (69b, 9x4, 1x6) — that was Sharma on Day 1. 64 (143b, 6x4, 1x6) — that was Sharma on Day 2. It was a perfect example of playing the situation. It would have been easy to play his natural game but India will be glad he knew better.
A lot of his early runs came when he punished a wayward Cummins spell. Some calculated risks were taken to foil the
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bowler’s designs. When Nathan Lyon strung together some good balls, Sharma upset his rhythm by stepping down the track to loft him over long-off for a six. When Lyon erred in length and was too full, he would drive him past covers. Every time Lyon would fail to have enough body and revs in his action, he would sweep him for four.
Australia bowled fewer boundary balls to him on Friday. But when they did like the Cummins short ball that didn’t rise, early in the day, he took full toll. On a slow and low wicket, Sharma knew that bouncers would lack their usual venom.
But while Cummins and Boland were trying to essentially keep the run-rate down, it was the spinners who had to be front and centre for Australia if they wanted to find a way back into the game.
Sharma didn’t allow that to happen. If his 161 against England on a turning Chennai pitch in 2021 was about the counter-attack, his innings on Friday showcased the Indian captain choosing to trust
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The arrested persons hail from Mumbai, Bhandara and Nagpur, the official added.
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