New Delhi:
Rohit Sharma blasted his 23rd century and put India on course for a win in the ICC Cricket World Cup clash against South Africa at Southampton. With this century, Rohit overtook former India captain Sourav Ganguly’s tally of 22 tons and put him in third place among Indians behind Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli. The knock is crucial for him after he had struggled in the two warm-up games prior to the match against New Zealand and Bangladesh. Chasing 228, India withstood some disciplined bowling from the South Africans but they won the match by six wickets.
Rohit survived a dropped chance on 1 in the second over bowled by Kagiso Rabada as he looked to pull a short ball but the delivery hit the glove and lobbed to first slip where Faf du Plessis, the South Africa skipper ran forward to take the catch but could not take it. In the fourth and sixth over, Rohit withstood a vicious spell from Rabada who troubled him with inswingers and his technique was tested thoroughly on a wicket which was assisting the new ball bowlers.
However, in the eight over, Rohit opened up by smashing Rabada for a six over long leg and followed it up with two boundaries, one to third man and the next to the deep extra cover fence. Despite losing Virat Kohli thanks to a brilliant catch from Quinton de Kock, Rohit continued on his good form and cracked a boundary to deep point off Andile Phehlukwayo. The right-hander notched up his fifty by smashing a six off Tabraiz Shamsi to the wide long on fence and he targeted the chinaman by cutting a boundary to deep point and by hammering a pull to the deep backward square leg fence.
Rohit regularly found the boundaries and neared his century by clubbing Phehlukwayo flat-batted down the ground and he notched up his century by nudging Tabraiz Shamsi to the long on fence and it brought about plenty of cheers from the crowd in Southampton. This was his second century in the World Cup, having blasted a ton against Bangladesh in the quarterfinal of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 clash in Melbourne. With this knock, India is nearing their second win in the World Cup against South Africa.
