It was another day that belonged to Rohit Sharma.
The man lived up to his nickname – The Hitman – on Saturday as he became the first-ever batsman to score two centuries in his first Test as an opener after he reached the three-figure mark for the second time in the ongoing series-opener against South Africa in Vishakapatnam.
Sharma, who had scored 176 in his first innings as a Test opener on day one of the match, made 127 off 149 balls on fourth day. India declared their second innings on 323/4 in the final session of day four with skipper Virat Kohli on 31 and Ajinkya Rahane on 27. Sharma put on 169 with Cheteshwar Pujara, who made 81, to frustrate South Africa.
Here are all the statisical highlights from day four as Sharma kept the data folks busy:
- Rohit Sharma became the sixth Indian to score a hundred in both innings of a Test and the second opening batsman. Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar (3 times), Rahul Dravid (2 times), Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane have also made centuries in both innings of a Test.
Most runs in a Test by an Indian opener: -
— Victor Tarapore (@VictorTarapore) October 5, 2019
344: Gavaskar v WI 1971
319: Sehwag v SA 2008
309: Sehwag v PAK 2004
293: Sehwag v SL 2009
289: Gavaskar v WI 1978
278: Gavaskar v WI 1978
276: Gambhir v ENG 2008
259: Rohit (on 83*) v SA 2019👈#MakeStatsGreatAgain #INDvSA #Hitman
Rohit Sharma is the first batsman in history of Test cricket to score 2 centuries in when opening for the first time. #INDvSA
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) October 5, 2019
Rohit Sharma now has the most runs in a Test by a batsman opening for the first time.
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) October 5, 2019
Previous highest: Tillakaratne Dilshan's 215* (92 & 123*) v NZ, Galle, 2009. #IndvSA
Indian openers with a ton in both the innings of a Test:
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) October 5, 2019
Sunil Gavaskar v West Indies, Port of Spain, 1971
Sunil Gavaskar v Pakistan, Karachi, 1978
Sunil Gavaskar v West Indies, Kolkata, 1978
Rohit Sharma v South Africa, Vizag, 2019*#INDvSA
- Sharma also broke the record for most sixes in a Test with 13 hits over the fence, surpassing Pakistan great Wasim Akram who smashed 12 in a game against Zimbabwe in 1996. The 32-year-old stylish right-hander cleared the boundary six times in the first innings, while in the second essay his knock was laced with seven sixes.
- With his six-hitting spree, Sharma now holds the record for the most sixes in a match by an Indian in all three formats.
Most sixes by a team in a Test:
— Andrew Samson (@AWSStats) October 5, 2019
27 Ind v SA Visakhapatnam 2019
22 NZ v Pak Sharjah 2014
18 WI v Eng St John's 1986
18 Pak v India Faisalabad 2006
18 SA v WI Basseterre 2010
Rohit Sharma is the only player to have hit 10-plus sixes each in a Test match, an ODI match and a T20I match.#INDvSA
— Umang Pabari (@UPStatsman) October 5, 2019
Rohit Sharma is the first player ever to hit six sixes in each innings of a Test.#INDvSA
— Rajneesh Gupta (@rgcricket) October 5, 2019
🚨(Yet another yet another) WORLD RECORD ALERT!!🚨
— Victor Tarapore (@VictorTarapore) October 5, 2019
26: Sixes smashed by India, THE MOST BY A TEAM IN A SINGLE TEST.
And they said Test cricket is boring.#MakeStatsGreatAgain #INDvSA #SAvIND #Hitman #Mayank #Rohit #Virat #SAvIND https://t.co/UCD5F9J4hI pic.twitter.com/czIbujIHRl
- Sharma was so busy setting records that he created a milestone even with his dismissal.
Rohit Sharma - first Indian batsman to be stumped twice in the same Test match!#IndvSA #IndvsSA
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 5, 2019
Rohit Sharma is the first Indian to be dismissed stumped in both innings of a Test by the same keeper/bowler combination and the 14th overall
— Andrew Samson (@AWSStats) October 5, 2019
Rohit is out stumped!
— Victor Tarapore (@VictorTarapore) October 5, 2019
- Rohit becomes the FIRST 🇮🇳 batsman to be out stumped in both innings of a Test match!
- 22nd time this has occurred.
- The last batsman out stumped twice in a Test v SA: WWII HAD NOT STARTED (Hammond in March 1939)#MakeStatsGreatAgain #INDvSA #Hitman
- And finally, Sharma’s blistering knock resulted in an unwanted record for Keshav Maharaj: most runs conceded by a South African in a Test match.
Most runs conceded in a Test
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) October 5, 2019
374 Tommy Scott v Eng Kingston 1929/30
358 Jason Krejza v Ind Nagpur 2008/09
318 Keshav Maharaj v Ind Vizag 2019/20 *
308 Arthur Mailey v Eng SCG 1924/25#INDvSA
Maharaj joins Rohit with two hundreds in the test match #INDvSA
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) October 5, 2019