Rohit Sharma misses on his first overseas ton at lords; gives Team India an early edge

Opener Rohit Sharma's aggressive yet composed innings pushed Team India into a commanding position in the early hours at the India-England second Test at the Lord's Cricket Ground. Rohit Sharma was aiming for his first overseas century in Test cricket when he was clean bowled on a magnificent inswinger by James Anderson. Although Rohit Sharma failed to register his name at the Lord's honour board, the opener indeed helped Team India to have an upper hand in an overcast condition. Currently, Rohit Sharma has 7 centuries under his belt in Test cricket, however, all of them have come in India.  

Rohit Sharma was dismissed after 83 runs. Apart from Rohit Sharma's brilliant 83, the Mumbai Indians skipper wove a one-hundred-run partnership with KL Rahul at the Lord's Cricket Ground. Interestingly, the partnership of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul was India's highest opening stand at Lord's since 1974. 

Rohit and Rahul battled it out in the first ten overs and ensured the visitors did not lose wickets in the initial phase of the match. England pacers bowled a tight line and length, and they had overcast conditions to add to the trouble, but Rohit and Rahul were up to the task. After finding their feet at the crease, Rohit and Rahul started to get the scoreboard moving. In the 15th over of the innings, the right-handed Rohit smashed Sam Curran for four boundaries and he made his intentions clear.

James Anderson shatters Rohit Sharma's stumps

Rohit Sharma's tactical change for the England Test series

Earlier, Rohit Sharma revealed in an address to the media, that he made some technical changes in his batting, like staying steady at the crease and playing the ball closer to his body, in a bid to be successful in the challenging English conditions here.

"Yes, you got to change fair bit and something that I have changed as well, when the ball is moving, when the ball is doing a bit, there are lot of technical aspect of your game that you need to bring in as an opener," Rohit had said during the post-day press conference last night after the second's play in the opening Test against England.  

"Playing in these conditions is never easy, but you know you always challenge yourself as a batter to go out and perform when the conditions are challenging, that is something I am trying to do. I have made some changes in my technique as well. I am not trying to move too much in the crease, trying to stay as still as possible keeping the bat closer to the body," Rohit added.

Rohit said all such things can add value to his game. "All those things that can add value to your game. I am pretty happy with the way I have handled the new ball, the first spell of the new bowlers. But of course in conditions like this, you are never set, never in, you just got to treat every ball as new ball," he said. "So you just got to keep telling yourself that every ball is different and you just got to make sure that, you think that way all the time till the time you are in."   

(Image Credits: @BCCI/Twitter)