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Michael Vaughan believes it's only a matter of time before Rohit Sharma gets his first overseas hundred. The former England captain feels the opening batsman has the technique and temperament to breach the milestone in the ongoing five-Test series between India and England.
Rohit Sharma, playing in his 23rd Test outside India, missed out on a well-deserved century by 17 runs on Thursday. The right-hander started positively in testing conditions, allowing KL Rahul to take his time at the other end. He settled into a free-flowing groove after crossing his half-century and hit 11 boundaries and a six during his 145-ball knock.
In an interaction with Cricbuzz after the day's play, Michael Vaughan said:
"He was the aggressor in that partnership. I don't know how Rohit Sharma hasn't got an overseas hundred. I was in commentary today and the producer was in my ear, saying he's getting close to his first hundred outside India and I was like, 'What? How has he never got a hundred overseas?!'. But, it's only a matter of time. I'm sure he'll tick that box at some stage throughout this series. He seems to have all the time in the world to play the strokes, leave the ball and get out of the way of any kind of short delivery. He's in fine form."
Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul's 126-run opening partnership got India off to the perfect start at Lord's, with the latter going on to hit an unbeaten 127. The visitors concluded the first day with 276 runs on the board for the loss of three wickets.
"Rohit Sharma-KL Rahul partnership may be the difference between the two teams" - Michael Vaughan
Michael Vaughan added that the opening partnership between Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul, which has given consistent starts in every innings so far in this series, could be the difference between India and England.
"I think that the opening partnership, it may be the difference (between the two teams). If you look at England's opening partnership at Nottingham, it's under huge amount of pressure here at Lord's. The Rohit Sharma-KL Rahul partnership worked at Nottingham, it's now working at Lord's in testing conditions. It wasn't easy, it wasn't that the ball was doing nothing, it was doing plenty. And even at the end of the day the ball was offering something for the seamers. India have had a crackerjack of a day."
Rahul and Ajinkya Rahane will look to negotiate the second new ball before trying to push India's total past the 400-run mark. Day 2's play will start at 3:30 PM IST.
