2nd Test: Sweet boost for Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma celebrates his century during the opening day of the second Test against England at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. Pic/BCCI

Before Saturday, Rohit Sharma had gone just five Tests and eight innings without a three-figure knock. That only one of those eight hits had yielded a score in excess of 50, and he had five outings of less than 25, meant the tongues had started to wag, preceding scores of 212, 14, 127 and 176 conveniently forgotten.

If Rohit felt any pressure, real or imagined, it hardly showed. One of his great strengths has been to shut out the white noise and get on with the job. That's precisely what he did at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.

The 12,000 fans making an eager beeline for Day One of the second Test were thoroughly entertained by an innings replete with strokes that only Rohit can produce. Neither the vagaries of a surface more suited to at best Day Three than Day One, nor the loss of opening partner Shubman Gill without a run on the board, fazed the 33-year-old, who dismantled England's feeble threat with luminous strokeplay.

Rohit is one of the few Indian batsmen adept at playing the sweep. Taking a leaf from the English playbook of the first Test, he unleashed a spectacular onslaught from which there was no escape for Joe Root's beleaguered troops. Booming drives and chunky pulls did dot the Chepauk landscape, but it was the regularity and effectiveness of the full-blooded sweep and the cheeky scoop that was the standout feature of his seventh Test hundred.

By the time he was dismissed after nearly six and a half hours of majestic stroke-making, Rohit had breezed to 161, setting the tone for a satisfying end-of-day tally of 300 for six. For the last 220 minutes of his stay, he was kept company by the stolid Ajinkya Rahane, the vice-captain who himself needed a score after a string of poor returns following his 112 at the MCG in December.

Rahane responded with a classy 67 as he and Rohit made batting look the easiest proposition when it clearly was not. Unperturbed by puffs of dust when the ball disturbed the brittle exterior more than once, the tandem unleashed a wonderful exhibition of mind over matter in stitching together 162 of the very best.

"We were constantly chatting," Rohit recalled the alliance post-stumps. "That's why we were able to get a good partnership. We have played together [a lot] and understand each other's batting. He has played some crucial knocks from time to time. Whenever the team needed runs, in difficult times, he has delivered."
As has the Hitman. If India find themselves well placed to force the issue, you know who is responsible.