Kolkata: A video of unbeaten centurion Rohit Sharma shouting ‘not now’ as the skies turned grey just before he smashed a six to reach his third hundred of the series took social media by storm as India took on South Africa on the opening day of the third and final Test here Saturday.
On Day 1, Rohit remained not out on 117 while vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane was unbeaten on 83 as India posted 224/3 before bad light stopped play.
Rohit reached the three-figure mark with a six as he was batting on 95 in the 45th over. The limited overs vice-captain brought up his third century of the series, his sixth overall, off Dane Piedt’s bowling. Just before that, Rohit shouted ‘not now’ when it started to drizzle and the groundsmen set themselves up to bring the covers.
Rohit Sharma the ball before his ton. Shouting 'Not now' as the rain begun to fall. Next ball – Six to bring up his 100 pic.twitter.com/firwEnZIPy
— Gav Joshi (@Gampa_cricket) October 19, 2019
#RohitSharma
I think Indian cricket team now missing his service as an opener in red ball cricket,from 2013 to 2019
Video courtesy: BCCI pic.twitter.com/1yBrnMQZcn— @Abhi_45 (@Prashant4577) October 19, 2019
He took the single off the second ball of the over to reach 95 and at the same time, the rain started coming down. Batting as an opener for the first time in this series, Rohit added yet another feather to his cap by becoming the batsman to hit the most number of sixes in a Test series.
During the ongoing three-Test series against South Africa, Rohit has so far hit 17 sixes and has surpassed Shimron Hetmyer’s tally of 15 which came during the two-match series between West Indies and Bangladesh in 2018/19.
Rohit already holds the record for hitting the maximum number of sixes in a Test match. During the first Test in Visakhapatnam, the stylish batsman hit 13 sixes and went past Wasim Akram’s tally of 12 maximums which the Pakistan pacer had hit during his 257-run knock against Zimbabwe in 1996.
Navjot Singh Sidhu previously held the Indian record for most sixes in a Test, hitting eight maximums against Sri Lanka in 1994. Rohit holds the record for most sixes in a match for India in all the three formats of the game.
Overall, former New Zealand skipper Brendon McCullum holds the record for hitting maximum number of sixes in Test cricket. McCullum hit 107 maximums in 101 matches he played for the Black Caps. He is followed by Adam Gilchrist (100), Chris Gayle (98), Jacques Kallis (97) and Virender Sehwag (91).