India vs England, 2021: 2nd Test, Day 1: Rohit’s flurry of records, Virat’s unique duck, Rahane’s milestone and more stats

India started well against England in the second Test of the 4-match series with a fine batting show on the first day. India put up a total of 300/6 in 88 overs they batted. The first day belonged to Indian opener Rohit Sharma who hit a glorious century. Rohit scored 161 runs off 231 balls including 18 fours and 2 sixes. He reached his century in 130 balls, and was dismissed by English spinner Jack Leach.    

Earlier in the day, Indian captain Virat Kohli decided to bat first after winning the toss. India lost their opener, Shubman Gill, for a duck, while Virat too went back to the pavilion without scoring a single run. India were looking in trouble at a score of 86/3, but Rohit Sharma along with Ajinkya Rahane took India to a comfortable position with an excellent partnership. Rahane and Rohit added 162 runs for the fourth wicket, with Rahane scoring 67 runs off 149 balls.

Let’s look at important stats and numbers after the end of the first day of the second Test between India and England.

Records galore for Rohit Sharma

1 – Rohit became the first cricketer to smash a century in all three formats against four different opponents. He has hit these tons against England, South Africa, West Indies and Sri Lanka.   

2 – The prolific opener became only the second player to hit hundreds against England in all three formats. Chris Gayle was the first cricketer to achieve this feat.

7 – Rohit Sharma has got all his seven Test tons at home. He now has the most Test hundreds among Indian players without an away Test century. In world cricket, Mominul Haque has hit most Test hundreds (10) at home without scoring any century in away matches.  

35 – Rohit hit his 35th International hundred as an opener and surpassed Sunil Gavaskar. Among Indian openers with most centuries across formats, Rohit is now at third spot after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag. 

4 – In the first session of the first day’s play, Rohit Sharma hit 80 runs off 78 balls. Among Indian openers since 2006, only three players have made more runs than Rohit in the opening session. Shikhar Dhawan is at the number-1 position in this record, who scored 104 runs off 88 balls against Afghanistan in 2018.      

200 – The Indian opener completed his 200 sixes at home in International cricket. He is the first Indian player and fourth in world cricket to get to this milestone.

One of a kind duck for Virat Kohli

1 – For the very first time in his international career, Virat Kohli got out for a duck to a spinner. Moeen Ali dismissed Virat on the fifth delivery of his innings.  

Rohit’s love affair with first Innings as an opener

140.75 – Rohit now has a staggering average of 140.66 in the first innings of the Test match as an opener when India bats first. This includes a total of 563 runs with 3 centuries and a high score of 212 runs against South Africa. 

World Test Championship Records

1051 – Ajinkya Rahane became the first Indian player to complete 1000 runs in the World Test Championship(WTC). He has scored 1051 runs in WTC at an average of 47.77 including 3 centuries and 6 half-centuries.

9 – Ajinkya Rahane now has the joint-most 50+ scores (9) for India in WTC along with Cheteshwar Pujara. 

4 – Rohit hit his fourth century in WTC, and is now at the joint second position in terms of scoring most hundreds in WTC.