Former India opener Gautam Gambhir on Saturday heaped praises on batsman Rohit Sharma for the latter’s back-to-back centuries in his maiden Test match as an opener.
Rohit Sharma, who opened the innings for the first time in Test cricket, has silenced his critics with back-to-back centuries in the first Test match against South Africa in Visakhapatnam.
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old scripted history by becoming the first batsman to hit centuries in both the innings in the debut match as an opener in Test cricket.
Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, who has always backed Rohit for the role, has expressed his happiness over the classy right-hander grabbing the opportunity of opening the innings with both hands.
“Take a bow, @ImRo45 Eventually you are, where you belong to 1,” Gambhir tweeted.
Take a bow🙇♀️@ImRo45 Eventually you are, where you belong to ! 👏👌
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) October 5, 2019
Notably, Rohit scored 176 runs in the first innings of the ongoing Test against South Africa. His blitzkrieg included 23 boundaries and six sixes.
The 32-year-old followed his first innings masterclass with a quick-fire century in the second innings as well to achieve the rare feat at the ACA-VDCA Stadium. He scored 127 in the second essay, which included 10 fours and 7 sixes.
Rohit has now joined an elite list of Indian batsman who have managed to score back-to-back tons in the same Test. Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane had earlier scored centuries in both innings of a Test.
(With inputs from IANS)