Rohit Sharma is already a big name in limited-overs cricket. But the recently concluded home Test series against South Africa has put him into the new position. Those unstoppable performances in that Test series have helped Rohit to reach another incredible height.
Rohit Sharma is already one of the most consistent performers in the limited-overs format. In the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019, Rohit was the most run-scorer as he scored 648 runs in nine innings with an average of 81.00, including five centuries.
At present, Rohit is the no.2-ranked ODI batsman and joint no.7-ranked T20I batsman. But, before the recent home Test series against South Africa, Rohit was struggling to set up himself in the Test squad.
Due to the opening batting crisis, the Indian team management thought to watch Rohit as a Test opening batsman. Though Rohit is now a renowned opening batsman in limited-overs cricket, he never played as a Test opener before the South Africa series.
After the conclusion of the South Africa Test series, Rohit Sharma massively climbed up to the Test batting rankings
The first Test of the three-match Test series against South Africa at Visakhapatnam was Rohit’s first Test in this calendar year. Moreover, it was his first experience as a Test opener. In that game, Rohit broke many top records and scored 176 and 127 runs.
Rohit didn’t shine in the second Test at Pune as he scored 14 runs in the first innings. However, he cleared most of the doubts in the third and final Test of that series at Ranchi.
In the first innings of the Ranchi Test, India were once struggling on 39/3. But the new Test opener Rohit Sharma was unstoppable along with the middle-order batsman Ajinkya Rahane. Once again Rohit broke many records and hit his maiden Test double century. He scored 212 runs in that innings and massively helped India to set a good first innings total that guided the hosts to clinch an innings victory.
Due to those amazing performances in Test cricket, Rohit has climbed up to the 10th position in Test batting ranking. With this latest Test ranking, Rohit became the third Indian batsman to achieve the top 10 rankings in each of three international formats.
Former Indian top-order batsman Gautam Gambhir was the first Indian to achieve this feat. Later, the Indian captain Virat Kohli put his name in this special list. Now, Rohit Sharma became the third Indian batsman to reach this top spot.