Indian cricket team skipper Rohit Sharma looked in sublime touch as he slammed a brilliant century on Day 1 of the third Test match against England in Rajkot on Thursday. It was a nearly perfect knock from the veteran batter as he achieved the milestone with the help of 12 fours and 2 sixes. It was a significant knock with respect to the match as India lost the trio of Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rajat Patidar early in the first session. However, Rohit kept playing his natural game and stitched together a sensational partnership with Ravindra Jadeja. Thanks to the century, Rohit became the oldest Indian cricket team captain to score a Test ton.
At 36 years, 291 days, Rohit shattered the previous record held by Vijay Hazare (at 36 years 278 days vs England in 1951). Rohit already holds the record for India in both ODIs as well as T20Is.
India won the toss and elected to bat against England.
The series is locked at 1-1 as England captain Ben Stokes is appearing in his 100th Test.
India handed debuts to middle-order batter Sarfaraz Khan, a heavy scorer in domestic cricket for Mumbai, and young wicketkeeper batter Dhruv Jurel, who will replace KS Bharat in the playing eleven.
England have brought back pacer Mark Wood in place of young spinner Shoaib Bashir.
Teams:
India: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Rajat Patidar, Sarfaraz Khan, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel(w), Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes(c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson.
(With PTI inputs)
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