Virat Kohli praises Rohit's performance in his debut series as opener

A dominating Indian team wrapped up the third and final Test against South Africa in Ranchi on Tuesday, October 22, by defeating them by an innings and 202 runs on Day 4. This was Virat Kohli's 11th series win as captain and India's first clean sweep over the Proteas. With the series win, India takes an unassailable lead in the points table of the ICC World Test Championship with 240 points in five Tests. The South African team was no match for India's batting dominance and the mighty bowling department in which the pacers and the spinners contributed equally. Speaking at the post-match press conference, Virat Kohli praised Rohit Sharma's performance who was adjudged the Player of the match and the series both.

'Credit goes to Rohit'

The Indian skipper said, "We were talking about Rohit in Vizag, that he anticipated what will be the challenges in Test cricket as an opener because in ODIs, he has been the best in the world from a long time. To overcome that and the way he has batted in this series, we had to miss a session for 2-3 hours because of the conditions but because of the pace of his batting, we got so much of time to bowl out the opponent twice. The credit of this goes to him only because he overcame his anxiety and hesitation and performed the way he did, winning Player of the series in his debut series as an opener. I think it was an amazing performance by Rohit."

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Impressive start by Rohit Sharma as a Test opener

Rohit Sharma, who was named Man of the Series on Tuesday said he is looking to build on his Test career in his new role.

"I'm thankful for the opportunity to the management for that opening slot. I can take a lot of positives about how to counter the new ball”, Rohit said at the post-match presentation ceremony. “The new ball is always a threat, and to be able to counter that will be a huge positive. I can take my game forward from that", he added. 

Rohit’s double century in the first innings of the third and final Test proved key to India’s win, as they went on to declare at 497-9 before bowling the opposition twice. This was India's sixth clean sweep at home in a three-Test series and the team didn't put a foot wrong during the three-match series, winning the first Test by 203 runs and the second one by an innings and 137 runs. 

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