India skipper Rohit Sharma retired from Test cricket yesterday (May 7). Here are his 12 Test centuries, ranked from worst to best.
Rohit never quite hit the heights in Test cricket that he did in ODIs, but nonetheless, a career lasting over a decade with more than 4,000 runs is not to be scoffed at. He scored 12 centuries in the whites of India, all of them coming in winning causes.
Ten of Rohit's Test centuries were scored at home, including one on debut. The split by opposition reads four against England, three each against South Africa and West Indies and one each against Sri Lanka and Australia.
Read more: Rohit Sharma's ODI hundreds, ranked from worst to best
Also read: Ranking Virat Kohli's 30 Test hundreds from worst to best
12. 102* vs Sri Lanka, Nagpur, 2017
The easiest of the lot, you would have to say. Rohit came in at 410-4, with India already leading by 205 runs. Murali Vijay and Cheteshwar Pujara had already scored centuries, and Virat Kohli would go on to get a double in the same innings. India declared at 610-6 after Rohit reached three figures, and eventually won by an innings and 239 runs.
11. 103 vs West Indies, Roseau, 2023
A weak attack, and West Indies ended up using nine bowlers as India ran them into the ground. Rohit's opening partner, Yashasvi Jaiswal, also scored 171 – on Test debut. The pair put on 229 for the first wicket.
10. 127 vs South Africa, Visakhapatnam, 2019
This was in the third innings of the match, and was a semi-declaration innings after a 71-run lead. Rohit top-scored as India scored 323-4 to set the visitors 395 to win. They promptly won by 203 runs.
9. 176 vs South Africa, Visakhapatnam, 2019
In the first innings of the same Test, Rohit had set up the game alongside opening partner Mayank Agarwal (215). This was his third-highest Test score.
8. 111* vs West Indies, Mumbai, 2013
Rohit's second Test was Tendulkar's last, at the pair's shared home venue. The West Indies attack was relatively weak, and three other Indian batters made 50-plus scores, with Cheteshwar Pujara scoring a century. Rohit stayed not out, coming in at No.6, helping India to a 313-run lead.
7. 103 vs England, Dharamshala, 2024
A marquee series, but a dead rubber, as well as an off-colour and half-checked out attack. This was Rohit's last Test hundred, but India's top five all feasted on the bowling to score 50 or more. Shubman Gill, widely tipped to be Rohit's successor, also scored a century here.
6. 131 vs England, Rajkot, 2024
Earlier in that series, Rohit scored an important hundred in Rajkot, navigating a tricky phase after India were 24-2 and 33-3. Ravindra Jadeja also scored a century here, before India's second innings was taken over by Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan.
5. 212 vs South Africa, Ranchi, 2019
Rohit's only Test double, it partly ranks this high for sheer volume. Add to that the fact that Mayank Agarwal and Cheteshwar Pujara were gone before drinks on day one, and Virat Kohli just after. He had support from Ajinkya Rahane (115), but Rohit going big helped India bat just once.
4. 177 vs West Indies, Kolkata, 2013
Not the strongest of sides, but Rohit walked out on Test debut at 82-4, before India slipped to 83-5. Behind by 151 at that point, Rohit's superb counter-attack alongside R Ashwin (124) meant India took a 219-run lead, and batted just once in the Test.
3. 120 vs Australia, Nagpur, 2023
On a tricky wicket, Rohit stuck around for 80.4 overs before Pat Cummins accounted for him with the second new ball. No mean feat, considering the next-best in the top six, KL Rahul, faced 71 balls. He attacked the first new ball, before settling into a rhythm against the spinners and helping India to a 52-run lead by the time he was out. This was also Rohit's first Test century as India captain.
2. 127 vs England, The Oval, 2021
The first of Rohit's two overseas tons, this came after India had already conceded a 99-run lead. He set the tone with an 83-run stand alongside KL Rahul at the top, and later said his first goal had been to play as many balls as possible. He faced 256 in all, against the four-pronged attack of James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Chris Woakes and Craig Overton in their own conditions – helping India to 466, and an eventual 157-run win.
1. 161 vs England, Chennai, 2021
Earlier in 2021, India and England had faced off on a Chennai wicket that ragged square. With batters as close to hopping around as possible against spin bowling, Rohit 'locked in', doubled down and put on one of his finest exhibitions of batsmanship. Outside of Rohit, batters from both sides averaged under 19.3 runs per dismissal. He scored 161 & 26, the first of those knocks setting up an Indian score of 329 that might have felt like 500.
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