In the eight times that Rohit Sharma has walked out to bat against England since the start of this Test series, five times he is faced balls in excess of hundred:107 in the first innings at Nottingham, 145 in the first innings at Lord s, 105 in the first and 156 in the second innings at Leeds and 256 to bring about a much-deserved century at the Oval.
Across all innings, he has faced 866 balls. That’s close to 144 overs. The hours spent batting in the nets can be counted separately. Probably as many, or more. There’s this final Test match coming up. Hes determined to bat; spend time out there; do another Oval, or maybe better?
Most pleasing was that I was able to play 250 balls, he said after Monday s win. He s looking forward to something similar. Those who have his ear insist where he aspires to be is in a state of contentment inside his own mind.
Led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, India bundled out South Africa for 194 in their first innings. The visitors then posted 247 runs in the second innings and set South Africa a challenging score of 241 runs. However, the task proved to be too far-fetched for the hosts as they sent packing for 177 runs and India won the match by 63 runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was the man of the match who as bagged eight wickets in the match across both innings.