He alongside Mayank Agarwal - who have never opened in Test before - have made a strong impact against the Proteas. The former Pakistan pacer also said that in future when India face-off against England in a five-match Test series, Rohit could amass 1,000 runs in the rubber and will surpass Smith's run tally of 774 runs in the recently-concluded Ashes series.
India is now battling out South Africa in the first Test match of a three-match Test series back in their home.
The only player in the world with three double hundreds in ODIs, Sharma has built a formidable reputation as a limited-overs opener but batted in the middle order in his stop-start Test career.
A sudden thunder storm forced the umpires to call tea seven minutes early and no further play was possible after heavy rains lashed the coastal city. He hammered offie Danie Piedt for successive sixes over deep midwicket to get into the nineties before completing his fourth Test ton with a single off debutant spinner Senuran Muthusamy. Rohit also made his Test claims strong by belting 176, only his fourth hundred in red-ball cricket that came after 27 matches. "You have to challenge yourself to play the new ball and take the game forward".
It was the first delivery of the eighth over of the South African innings when the off-spinner went through the defence of the talented Aiden Markram (5).
Playing in just his fifth Test, the 28-year-old Agarwal smashed six sixes and 23 fours in 371 balls faced. In fact, he was right, as Rohit Sharma became one of the finest batsmen of the game.
After India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first, Proteas pacers Kagiso Rabada and Vernon Philander beat the bat on a few occasions with the new ball, but those were the only real moments of discomfort that the Indian openers encountered.
Sharma got off the mark as an opener in the longer format in style as drove Rabada for a boundary at backward point.
