Rohit Sharma scripted history at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur on Friday, 10 February, when he scored his maiden Test ton against Australia. The Indian skipper achieved this feat on Day 2 of the ongoing first Test of the 2023 Border Gavaskar Trophy.
After his bowlers restricted the Aussies to a meek total of 177, Sharma got India off to a brilliant start, as he smashed the opposition’s skipper, Pat Cummins for three boundaries in the first over itself. Having initially done his scoring against the pacers, the 35-year-old later took the attack to the spinners.
The 14th over of India’s innings saw Sharma dancing down the track and dispatching a Nathan Lyon delivery to the stands, while he also struck a four in Lyon’s next over. While he lost his opening partner, KL Rahul early on Day 1, and then four others on Day 2, the captain never looked in trouble and continued accelerating India towards a significant lead.
The Mumbai-born batter’s century came from 171 deliveries, which saw him hitting 14 boundaries and a couple of sixes. With this, Sharma now has nine Test centuries to his name, alongside 34 tons in the other two formats of international cricket.
One Century, Two Records
It also marked his maiden ton against the baggy greens in Test cricket, at the eighth time of asking. Previously, he had struck two half-centuries against Australia away from home, in Sydney and Melbourne.
That, however, was not the only bit of history he scripted on Friday. With this century, Rohit Sharma also became the first Indian captain to score a ton in all three formats of the game whilst leading the men in blue.
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