Rohit Sharma’s brilliant knock of 161 finally came to an end in the post-Tea session after he mistimed the attempted slog-sweep off the bowling of Jack Leach in the post-Tea session.
It all happened in the 73rd over of the Indian innings when Rohit Sharma decided to go for yet another sweep off left-arm orthodox Jack Leach. Rohit had employed the sweep shot to great effect throughout his innings but with the ball misbehaving off the deck, one felt that it was always a matter of time before extra bounce got the better of him.
Interestingly, Rohit had survived a mighty close stumping call in the previous over bowled by Jack Leach after the left-arm spinner got one to wiz past the opener’s an outside edge, leading to Ben Foakes dislodging the bails off in a flash.
On replay, it looked like his back foot was on the edge of the crease but the third umpire decided to give the benefit of doubt to the batsman. However, Jack Leach got his man in the very next over as Rohit mistimed the slog-sweep to give a simple catch to Moeen Ali.
It was a typical Rohit Sharma innings glittered with sumptuous strokeplay. Imperious cuts, authoritative pulls, sumptuous cover drives, disdainful sweeps, Sharma’s innings had everything.
The Indian opener completed his 7th Test ton via a peddle-sweep off Moeen Ali and he went on to convert it into 150. Sharma’s knock and his partnership with Ajinkya Rahane had helped India take a position of strength in the second Test. However, with Ajinkya Rahane getting dismissed soon after Rohit Sharma, India will now have to rebuild again to ensure that they get close to the 350 mark.