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Rohit Sharma’s love affair with Australia continued as he smashed his 10th ODI century and fifth against Australia off 111 balls in the second ODI in Brisbane on Friday. Rohit, who smashed an unbeaten 171 in the first ODI at Perth, continued from where he left off as he punished the inexperienced Australian bowling. (Rohit Sharma Slams Brilliant Ton To Start Series on a High)
The right-hander started positively by smashing a four and six off Kane Richardson and he brought up his fifty off 61 balls. He shared a 125-run stand with Virat Kohli, who scored an impressive 59 off 67 balls. (Rohit Sharma Breaks Plethora of Records in Perth)
Rohit survived an anxious moment on 89 when he edged Joel Paris to the keeper. However, the umpire was unmoved and he continued his march. In the 37th over, Rohit glided Paris to third man to bring up his second consecutive century of the series.
In this series, Rohit has already broken a couple of records. His 171 at Perth was the highest individual score in ODIs in Australia, going past Sir Vivian Richards’ record of 153* set in 1979 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In the Brisbane ODI, he smashed three sixes to take his tally of sixes against Australia to 40, the most by any player.
He became the second Indian after VVS Laxman to score an ODI ton at the Gabba against Australia. Laxman had achieved the feat in the 2004 VB Tri-series in January 2004. Rohit also became the first Indian opener to register a century at the Gabba, beating the previous highest of 91 scored by Sachin Tendulkar in the 2008 Commonwealth Bank tri-series final.
Out of his five ODI centuries, three have come in Australia and his average against them in 13 games is 61.30, which is the highest for any overseas batsmen with a minimum qualification of 10 games.
Source: NDTV