'Biggest challenge': Sunil Gavaskar reveals secret behind Rohit Sharma's impressive ton

Rohit Sharma displayed a masterclass batting performance on Day 3 of the England vs India fourth Test match at the Oval as he scored a century. This was the Hitman's first overseas Test hundred as he scored  127 runs from 256 balls to help India secure a  decent score in the second innings. After his outstanding batting, former cricketing legend Sunil Gavaskar heaped praise on him.

Sunil Gavaskar praises Rohit Sharma for maiden overseas Test ton

Rohit Sharma made most of the two dropped chances to score a brilliant maiden overseas Test ton. The Hitman made England pay as he was dropped first on six runs before being dropped once again while he was on 33 runs. Sunil Gavaskar praised Rohit's all-around batting performance to express how delighted he was with his performance.

While speaking on the Sony Sports Network, Gavaskar said, "Incredible knock. Very, very impressive, for the simple reason that the way he was covering the swing when the ball was new. Not just here, but even in the earlier matches. The way he was playing very late, the way he had the bat and pad close to each other… not pushing at deliveries. Once he settled down, then all the shots began to flow. But then the most impressive thing is the straightness of his bat when he's defending. Then of course the use of his feet to get to his Test century."

Gavaskar also added that Rohit is a class batsman who has a wide range of shots in his game to go after the bowlers. "Once he got to fifty, he opened up. He's widened the range of his shots. He's played the V, played the cuts and the sweep shot. That's exactly how a Test match innings has to be built. That is the biggest challenge of players of his genius. For someone like him or GR Viswanath, or Azharuddin… they all had different options for deliveries. They could play on the on side and the offside, but then to curb that and play what is needed for the occasion is very important, and that's what he's done today," added the Indian batting legend.

Sunil Gavaskar insists Rohit Sharma can score many more runs

Even though Rohit Sharma is 34-years old, Sunil Gavaskar insists he can score many more runs across all formats. "He's shown to himself that he can do that. Many more on the way. He has realised I need to play more than those lovely cameos, those lovely 30s, 40s. Mind you, even in T20s, he was scoring heaps of runs, getting 70s, 80s, 100s over there as well, because he realised, he has to bat and take the responsibility and bat throughout 20 overs," concluded Gavaskar.