Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar showered praise on India’s captain Rohit Sharma after the home team defeated Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test match at the VCA Stadium, Nagpur on Saturday. Rohit Sharma led from the front as he scored a fine knock of 120 runs in the first innings to help his team post 400 runs on the board and take a 223-run lead.

Rohit took an attacking approach on the first day’s play as he raced to 56 runs in no time. However, the right-hander was more circumspect in his batting on the second day and brought up his ninth Test century.

Rohit showed all the patience in his knock as he batted at his absolute best. The conditions weren’t easy for batting but Rohit showed his class to come up with the goods for the team. In fact, almost all the Australian batters looked at sea on the Nagpur pitch but Rohit looked apart in his technique.

“One important factor was Rohit Sharma. Rohit actually set a template for batters around the world including some from his own team on how to bat on pitches like this,” Manjrekar wrote in his column for the Hindustan Times.

“Generally the first imperative for a batter when the ball is released by the bowler is estimating the length, where it’s likely to pitch with regards to where you are standing,” the former batter further added.

The cricketer-turned-commentator hailed Rohit Sharma for picking the length of the Australian bowlers and batting with guile.

“If it is going to be a fair distance away then you go on the back foot, which means going deep into your batting crease and giving yourself time to watch the ball and have control over its behaviour,” Manjrekar said in his column.

Rohit’s footwork against the Australian spinners was exemplary and he will look to continue the good show in the rest of the series. Furthermore, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel delivered while batting in the lower-middle order.

The second Test match between these two teams will be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi from Friday onwards.