Veteran commentator Aakash Chopra has applauded Rohit Sharma for scoring a much-needed century in India’s first innings of the third Test against England. However, Rohit smashed 131 runs off 196 deliveries as India posted 326/5 at Stumps on Day 1 in Rajkot on Thursday, February 15. It was his 11th Test century and ninth on home soil as well.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said: “Among the fantastic performances, we should repeatedly talk about Rohit Sharma because there was pressure. You are the most experienced in your team and you saw three players getting out from the other end when the score was only 33. So the captain had to play. He played Jimmy Anderson cautiously and gave a lot of respect to Mark Wood as well. He accelerated calculatedly against the spinners. The way he played and the time at which it came – one of the finest Test hundreds of his career. He scores a century whenever you need it the most.”

However, Team India were reduced to 33/3 after 8.5 overs, losing the wickets of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill and Rajat Patidar quickly. Rohit Sharma then added 204 runs for the fourth wicket with Ravindra Jadeja to help India get out of the struggle.

“So Rohit Sharma was a fantastic performer and so was Ravindra Jadeja. Jaddu was promoted in the batting order. He was sent at 33/3 and Jadeja’s story these days is that he plays very cautiously. He doesn’t get troubled while defending. He doesn’t have any difficulties against the bouncers. It was the first century partnership from India in this series and that too became a double century partnership. Jadeja slowed down in the end. He went into a shell slightly and because of that he probably called for a non-existent single and then said no,” Rohit Sharma concluded.