Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar praised Rohit Sharma’s mental toughness during his century on Day 1 of the third Test against England at Rajkot. The veteran had been on a run drought without a fifty in his last eight Test innings before the 131 in the ongoing game. With India struggling at 33/3 in the first hour, Rohit brought his experience to help the side out of trouble as well.

Speaking on ESPN Cricinfo at stumps on Day 1, Manjrekar said, “He also felt it cannot be only defense against this kind of tactic and opposition. Earlier on he took a couple of chances and was lucky Root dropped him once. After that he went to the traditional method of mental toughness which was really admirable. Because these are players who hit sixes for fun and Ben Stokes had the field in for the spinners, so to restrain yourself from doing something you can do so easily for hours together is something that I marvel with these players who have the gift of power but hold it back because it makes sense and is important to the team at that stage.”

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It was Rohit Sharma’s 11th Test century and ninth at home, with 14 boundaries and three maximums. The innings helped India to post a formidable total of 326/5 at the end of the opening day.

“India needed a 200-run partnership rather than just a 100-run partnership. Because when you take that partnership out, there was nothing much there. Sarfaraz Khan was a pleasant bonus. But India was playing with a very inexperienced batting lineup and 3 wickets at the top was India in real trouble and England having a huge advantage. But the pitch will hold the key. Even though India is in much safer waters now , how much England will get on that pitch is impossible to predict,” concluded Sanjay Manjrekar.