Rohit Sharma opened for the first time in Test cricket and the records followed. The new Test opener along with Mayank Agarwal broke the 15-year-old record of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir on Thursday at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. The previous record was set on November 20, 2004, at Kanpur.
This was only third double hundred partnership by an Indian opening pair against South Africa. The third-highest partnership belongs to Virender Sehwag and Wasim Jaffer on March 26, 2008, at Chennai. The former explosive opener also scored his second triple century in Test cricket.
However, this is the only time both Indian openers have scored a century against the Proteas. Mayank Agarwal scored his maiden Test century and became the 86th Indian batsman to do so.
After toiling hard on Day One of the first Test, South Africa missed two chances to get Rohit’s wicket. First, the 32-year-old was dropped by wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock after Vernon Philander managed to get an outside edge of his bat. Later on, the South Africans missed a run out chance after a mix-up between the openers.
