Team India opener Rohit Sharma slammed his first-ever century in Test matches outside India as he led his side's response in the second innings.
Rohit Sharma's journey from a middle-order batsman to be dropped from the Test side and then making a comeback as an opener finally culminated at the Oval in the fourth Test against England as he brought up his first-ever Test century outside India, having scored seven tons previously in the longest format of the game.
It was an innings of two halves as in the first half it was the Rohit Sharma of last 10 Test matches he has opened since the Sydney Test against Australia earlier this year - solid, defiant, blunting the new ball, playing the ball on its merit and playing it late. While in the second half, it was the more natural Rohit, the Hitman we know of - attack, playing with intent looking to score runs as after scoring 51 runs off first 145 balls, he brought up next 49 runs in just 59 balls as he smashed a six off off-spinner Moeen Ali to bring up a historic knock.
Not just being his first overseas Test century, Rohit Sharma on the way to his exceptional innings of 127 runs, achieved several feats and broke a string of records.
7 - With seven centuries at home, before scoring the first overseas century, Rohit Sharma overtook former Indian captain Mohammad Azharuddin, who had slammed six tons at home before scoring first away century against Pakistan in Faisalabad in 1989.
3 - This was the third instance when Rohit Sharma brought up a century with a six and he is now only behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has brought six centuries with a six in Test matches.
9 - Rohit Sharma has now the most centuries in England for an Indian batsman across formats as he surpassed former Indian great Rahul Dravid, who has eight centuries in England to his name (six in Tests and two in ODIs) while Sachin Tendulkar is in the third place in the list with seven centuries.
2 - Rohit Sharma has now become only the second player in the world to score centuries across all formats in international cricket in England, the first one to do so is also an Indian and his current opening partner in this Test series - KL Rahul. Rohit has now seven centuries in ODIs in England and one each in Tests and T20Is.
3000 - Rohit Sharma has now also achieved 300 Test runs and became the 23rd Indian batsman to do so, playing in his 43rd game.
15000 - Rohit Sharma has now become the eighth Indian batsman and 39th overall to reach the 15000-run mark in international cricket across formats.
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