India vs South Africa 2019: 3 reasons why Rohit Sharma's debut as an opener was so successful

#1 Positive batting approach against the spinners

Sharma using the sweep shot successfully

Rohit Sharma played the spinners like a master. While he scored slowly against Rabada, he was in a belligerent mood when facing Dane Piedt and Co.

One look at the spinners’ economy rates for the match tells the whole story. Keshav Maharaj (5 wickets and an economy rate of 4.12) was very expensive by his standards. Senuran Muthusamy (1 wicket, 4.61 ) did not perform much better.

But Piedt (5.80) was targeted the most. Sharma hit a grand total of 13 sixes, several of which came against Piedt's bowling.

The carnage started early in the first innings of the match. The Indian opener had signaled his intent in the 20th over, when he advanced down the pitch and hoisted the ball over long-on’s head (off Maharaj).

Over the next few hours, Sharma waltzed down the pitch several times. He also pulled the sweep shot out of his hat and used it to devastating effect.

By the time he was out for 176 runs, Sharma had scored the lion’s share of his runs against spinners.

The second innings followed more or less the same script. Sharma scored 127 runs at a rapid rate, which enabled India to declare on 230-4 (setting the visitors a target of 395).