Rohit Sharma’s innings against South Africa surely stands above his previous outings as he perfectly dealt with his new role. After bringing up his 4th Test ton on the first day itself, Rohit continued hammering the South African attack on the second day as well.

The 32-year-old went on to score 176 before getting stumped by Quinton de Kock, off a Keshav Maharaj delivery. He may have had missed his maiden double century in the longest format but equalled the record of former Indian skipper Rahul Dravid during his innings.

With six back-to-back fifty-plus scores, the HITMAN equalled Dravid’s record of most number of consecutive fifty-plus scores in Tests at home. Dravid achieved this feat in Tests at home between 1997 and 1998.

Rohit didn’t let the team management down which decided to promote him up in the order. He also shut the critics down who questioned his technique against the red cherry.

Speaking to the media at the end of the opening day’s play, Rohit said, “I wanted to take the opportunity and that’s why I made the management aware of it. I am grateful to them for providing me with the opportunity and I am happy I could score runs.”

Talking about his batting plans in the initial overs, the 32-year-old said he wanted to see off the new ball and then cash in from thereafter. “I was very clear in my mind what I wanted to do. The new ball will always do a bit in the initial overs -- whether it’s red ball or white.”

“I have played cricket in India for a long time now and that’s why I was aware of the conditions and knew that once you get past the first 10 overs, it becomes difficult to get wickets. And it becomes easier to score runs. This was my plan to tackle the new ball and then stick to what I had planned,” he added.