India vs South Africa, 2019: 1st Test, Day 1 – Rohit Sharma's first day as Test opener, Mayank-Rohit's record partnership and more stats

Rohit Sharma hogged the limelight on the first day of the 3-match Test series between India and South Africa in the Vizag. Rohit, who was promoted as Test opener for the first time, scored an unbeaten 115 with 12 fours and five maximums. The play was suspended due to bad light at the stroke of Tea break and a heavy rain ensured no play happened in the last session. Mayank Agarwal played an important role in their unbeaten partnership of 202. Mayank remained unbeaten on 84 which he scored with 13 boundaries.

All the statistical highlights from the first day of the Vizag Test that was dominated by the Indian openers:

A big stand to start the series:

202* – The unbeaten partnership of 202 between Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal is the highest by an Indian opening pair on the opening day of a Test series. Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar added 201 on the first day of the 2002 three-match Test series against West Indies at the Wankhede Stadium.

New records for Rohit the Test opener:

1 – Rohit Sharma became the first Indian to score a century in all three formats while opening the innings. He scored 25 ODI centuries and four T20I hundreds as an opener.

Stats: Rohit Sharma scores a century in his maiden outing as a Test opener

4 – Rohit is also only the 4th player to score a century in his maiden Test as an opener for India.

Stats: Rohit Sharma achieves a rare feat as opening batsman with his century

Mayank and Rohit star on day 1:

3 – Mayank and Rohit are only the 3rd Indian opening pair to share a 200-run stand in their maiden outing. Virender Sehwag and Rahul Dravid added 410 against Pakistan in the 2006 Lahore Test while Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan shared 289 runs against Australia in the 2013 Mohali Test.

Rohit matches Dravid:

6 – Rohit Sharma has scored fifty-plus runs in each of his last six Test innings in India. He is only the 2nd Indian with six consecutive fifty-plus scores at home. Rahul Dravid had six consecutive scores of 50+ between 1997 and 1998. Overall, he is the 4th player with six successive 50+ Test scores in India. Everton Weekes and Andy Flower scored at least 50 runs in each of their first six Test innings in India.

South Africa’s poor luck with the toss:

8 – South Africa lost their 8th consecutive toss in a Test match in Asia. In the previous seven Tests in Asia, the Proteas lost five Tests while the other two ended in a draw. They also lost tosses in their last four away Tests prior to this series and lost the match in all those four.

A rare double-century stand:

2008 – The last instance of an opening pair stitching on a double century partnership in Test cricket against South Africa was way back in 2008. Virender Sehwag added 213 with Wasim Jaffer in the 2008 Chennai Test.

2015 – India’s last 200+ opening stand in Test cricket was between Murali Vijay and Shikhar Dhawan (286) in 2015 Fatullah Test against Bangladesh. Vijay-Dhawan pair also put on the last 200-run opening stand in Test cricket in India. The duo added 289 runs in the 2013 Mohali Test against Australia.