Umpire Richard Kettleborough's befitting reply to a social media troll who made “disgusting” remarks about India skipper Rohit Sharma following his historic hundred in the third Test against England in Rajkot went viral on X.
During his record-breaking hundred at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, Rohit Sharma was hit on the head by a delivery bowled by England pacer Mark Wood.
But because Rohit Sharma was wearing a helmet, it saved him from getting serious injuries.
Following the incident, a Virat Kohli admirer suggested that Mark Wood should have hit Rohit Sharma in the head when he did not have his helmet on, which would have possibly killed him. In 2014, Australian batter Phillip Hughes died in a similar incident when a bouncer struck him on the head.
“Philip Hughes died due to a bouncer ball striking on his helmet and Toxic Virat Kohli Fans are hoping and praying same for captain Rohit Sharma. Filthy Virat Kohli fans are the worst species to exist. Disgusting human beings. Sick minded psychopaths,” a Rohit Sharma lover wrote in response to the tweet.
Like Rohit Sharma's fans, Richard Kettleborough came up with a strong-worded response as he wrote: “This is so disgusting comment. Long Live Rohit Sharma.”
At 33-3 and with Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Rajat Patidar back in the hut, India looked in deep trouble at that stage. But captain Rohit Sharma decided to lead from the front as he went about his business in a calm and composed manner.
Not only did the 36-year-old opening batter combine with all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to stitch together a crucial 204-run partnership with the local lad, but completed his 11th Test century as well.
While Rohit Sharma looked good to score a double hundred, he lost his concentration at the score of 131 when he went for a pull off a short ball from Mark Wood, only managing to loop the ball in the air to be caught by England captain Ben Stokes at mid-wicket.
Nonetheless, despite losing his wicket for 131 off Mark Wood, Rohit Sharma managed to become the oldest Indian captain to score a hundred in international cricket.
Before him, the record was held by Vijay Hazare, who scored a ton against England in 1951 at the age of 36 years and 278 days. However, the Nagpur-born cricketer bettered it in Gujarat, having amassed his century against the Three Lions at 36 years and 291 days.
Besides going past Vijay Hazare's 73-year-old landmark, Rohit Sharma toppled the legendary MS Dhoni from the second spot amongst Indians with the most sixes in Test cricket. While MS Dhoni finished with 78 sixes during his Test career, Rohit Sharma leapfrogged him with three maximums against England in Rajkot. His tally of sixes in the five-day format stands at 80 now. Former India opener Virender Sehwag occupies the top spot with 90 sixes.
It was Rohit Sharma's third hundred as India captain in Test matches, taking him past Kapil Dev in this department. At present, he sits in ninth place as far as Indian captains with most centuries in the longest format of the game are concerned.
Rohit Sharma's predecessor, Virat Kohli, tops the list in this metric with 20 tons. Virat Kohli is followed by Sunil Gavaskar (11), Mohammad Azharuddin (9), Little Master Sachin Tendulkar (7), two-time World Cup winner MS Dhoni (5), Bengali icon Sourav Ganguly (5), MAK Pataudi (5), and current head coach Rahul Dravid (4).
With his hundred against England in Saurashtra, Rohit Sharma took his tally of centuries in the World Test Championships to eight, leaving English skipper Ben Stokes and Australian opener Usman Khawaja behind. Both Ben Stokes and Usman Khawaja have seven tons to their names in the World Test Championships.
Only premier England batter Joe Root (12), Australia's top-order batters Marnus Labuschange (9), Steve Smith (8) and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson (8) are ahead of Rohit Sharma in terms of three-figure scores in the WTC.
Rohit's well-crafted knock earned him rich plaudits from many former cricketers, including retired Indian batters Sanjay Manjrekar, Aakash Chopra, and Parthiv Patel.
“Rohit Sharma knew that this was the innings where he had to get not just 20-30 runs but get a big one. When India lost 3 wickets the onus was on him staying there became greater,” Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.
“Rohit took a couple of chances and was lucky to be dropped by Joe Root (in the slips). But after that he went back to the traditional method of mental toughness and that was something really admirable. Ben Stokes had the field in but Rohit held himself back from what comes very naturally to him. Him and Jadeja understood what was needed in the situation,” he added.
“The best thing about the knock was Rohit’s control while playing the ball off the backfoot. The field was set for the lofted hit and he played with control and scored lots of runs playing the ball along the ground. He only committed one mistake, on the ball he got out to, where he played it in the air, otherwise it was a brilliant innings. What we are seeing with Rohit Sharma is that he is adapting to conditions beautifully,” Parthiv Patel told JioCinema.
“Among the fantastic performances, we should repeatedly talk about Rohit Sharma because there was pressure. You are the most experienced in your team and you saw three players getting out from the other end when the score was only 33. So the captain had to play,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
“He played Jimmy Anderson cautiously and gave a lot of respect to Mark Wood as well. He accelerated calculatedly against the spinners. The way he played and the time at which it came – one of the finest Test hundreds of his career. He scores a century whenever you need it the most,” the ex-India batter summed up.
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