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Rohit Sharma’s maiden away century was lauded by several experts and former cricketers, including Sunil Gavaskar, who loved every bit of the technical aspects of Rohit Sharma’s game. Rohit Sharma’s wait for his maiden overseas Test century ended on Day 3 of the 4th Oval Test when he peeled off his 8th ton to put India in command against England on Saturday.

Rohit Sharma scored a magnificent 127 – the second century by an Indian batsman in the series – which put India in a commanding position against England in the fourth Test. India ended the day on 270/3, with a lead of 171 runs, and with seven wickets in hand, find themselves in a strong position.

Rohit Sharma celebrates his century during the fourth Test against England. (Twitter/BCCI)

Rohit Sharma Played An Impressive And Incredible Knock Of 127: Sunil Gavaskar

Rohit Sharma’s maiden away century was lauded by Sunil Gavaskar, who loved every bit of the technical aspects of his game. Making most of the two dropped chances – once when he was on 6 and other time on 33 – Rohit Sharma cashed in on the opportunity and went big.

“Incredible knock. Very, very impressive, for the simple reason that the way he was covering the swing when the ball was new. Not just here, but even in the earlier matches. The way he was playing very late, the way he had the bat and pad close to each other… not pushing at deliveries. Once he settled down, then all the shots began to flow. But then the most impressive thing is the straightness of his bat when he’s defending. Then of course the use of his feet to get to his Test century,” Gavaskar said on the Sony Sports Network.

Rohit Sharma scored his maiden overseas Test hundred on Day 3 at The Oval. Pic: Getty Images

Of the many traits about Rohit Sharma that impressed Sunil Gavaskar was the batsman’s ability to curb his natural attacking instincts – something he has been able to achieve throughout the series – and have more than one shot to the same ball, similar to some of India’s greats over the years.

“Once he got to fifty, he opened up. He’s widened the range of his shots. He’s played the V, played the cuts and the sweep shot. That’s exactly how a Test match innings have to be built. That is the biggest challenge of players of his genius. For someone like him or GR Viswanath, or Azharuddin… they all had different options for deliveries. They could play on the onside and the offside, but then to curb that and play what is needed for the occasion is very important and that’s what he’s done today,” Gavaskar added.

Rohit Sharma notched up his eighth Test hundred and, more significantly, his first away from home on Saturday. He scored 127 off 256 balls as India ended Day 3 of The Oval Test at 270 for 3.

Rohit Sharma Has Been Scoring Heaps Of Runs In T20Is Too: Sunil Gavaskar

With one away century checked, Sunil Gavaskar expects many more from Rohit Sharma to come. The former India captain also spoke of Rohit Sharma’s knack for scoring big runs in T20 cricket.

“He’s shown to himself that he can do that. Many more on the way. He has realized I need to play more than those lovely cameos, those lovely 30s, 40s. Mind you, even in T20s, he was scoring heaps of runs, getting 70s, 80s, 100s over there as well, because he realized, he has to bat and take the responsibility and bat throughout 20 runs,” Gavaskar pointed out.

Bad light stopped play at The Oval with India ahead by 171 runs. India ended the day at 270/3, with Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara scoring 127 and 61, respectively.

Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja will resume India’s innings on Day 4. Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara were dismissed in the same over by Ollie Robinson soon after the pair brought up their 150-run stand. While Rohit Sharma fell to a pull shot on 127, Cheteshwar Pujara was caught in the slips for 61.