IND vs ENG: Rohit Sharma Brings 'Sweep' Timing Into Play For Big Ton

No India batsman over the last 10 years has taken a top Test side's bowling apart in the first session of a Test as Rohit Sharma did against England on Saturday, though Shikhar Dhawan had hit an u

Neither could apply the sweep, at least as well as Sharma did.

Apart from those two dismissals, Ali had a nightmarish outing as Sharma gave a masterclass to all on how to approach a bowler who uses the rough well. Ali had previously troubled India in Tests in England.

"I have seen Moeen Ali bowl a lot. He actually bowls very well in the rough and sweep shot is something that can frustrate a bowler if you are playing that shot really well. If you play that shot, there is not much the bowler can do from there," explained Sharma.

Sharma said the sweep, where you trying to connect the ball from the rough, took the pitch out of the equation.

"I thought it was a safer option to take because both fielders square were on the boundary. If it was top-edged, it was going to fall in the safe place," added Sharma.

"I thought it was a percentage shot as well because he was bowling outside the off-stump so LBW wouldn't have come into play. There was the oddball he was bowling at the stumps against which I used my feet and tried to cover the spin and reach the ball."

Sharma was heard telling Rahane 'aada Khel', roughly translating into playing the sweep shot against spinners even as Rahane himself advised him to stand outside the crease against pace bowlers.

The two added 162 runs for the fourth wicket.

"We have played a lot together so we understand each other. We were chatting constantly. That is why that partnership grew," said Sharma.

"When we were playing seamers, Ajju (Ajinkya Rahane) told me to stand in front [of the crease] like he was. When we played the spinners - I was sweeping the spinners from the rough - I also told him to use sweep because it takes away the LBW option. Two-three balls he played, they had gone in the air a bit. I told him then that sweep would be a better option. It is a percentage shot on that pitch."

The preparation helped, said, Sharma.

"The preparation I had before the game helped, all I was trying to do, using the feet, playing with the turn, understanding the line they were bowling. The rotating strike was also important because it doesn't allow the bowler to settle," he said.

Sharma was on way to a double century at the venue where Sehwag had scored his career-best 319 against South Africa in 2008, the same year in which he later hammered Ajantha Mendis & Co in Galle, Sri Lanka.

But that wasn't to be. Sharma lived by the sweep and then fell by the sweep holing out to Moeen Ali in deep square leg off Jack Leach.