World Cup 2019: Rohit Sharma smashed few records on his way to 23rd Century | India vs South Africa

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Rohit Sharma

India finally began their World Cup campaign and it was a winning start from the men in blue. India played their opening game against South Africa at Southampton on Wednesday. Faf Du Plessis won the toss and elected to bat first. South Africa was looking for some redemption as they lost the opening two games of the tournament.

Jasprit Bumrah gave India a solid start with the ball. He removed both the openers and bowled a top class opening spell. The middle order had no clue against the leg spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who picked four wickets including two wickets in one over. South Africa managed to reach a decent target with the help of their lower order.

Chasing the modest target, India lost both Dhawan and Kohli early. Captain Kohli did his part by seeing off the new ball. Rohit Sharma, who has struggled early, started accelerating during the middle phase of the innings. Indian opener notched up his 23rd ODI century and helped India clinch the opening game by six wickets.

Here are the records which were broken during yesterday's game:

1. Rohit Sharma scored his 23rd ODI century for India and went past the former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly in the all-time list. Only other Indians above him are Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli.

2. When Rohit Sharma reached 74 runs, he became the 9th Indian to reach 12,000 International runs. He now has third most runs among the current Indian players.

3. Rohit Sharma also became the 7th Indian to notch 8000 international runs as an opener. 

4. The first time South Africa lost three consecutive games in the same World Cup. They lost two consecutive games in the 1992 World Cup and since that they never lost two consecutive games till the 2015 WC. Overall, it's a fourth consecutive loss as they lost in the 2015 WC semi-finals.

5. Rohit smashed his 16th century since the 2015 World Cup, which is second most after Virat Kohli, who has scored 19 Centuries.

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