After Day 4 of the 2nd Test at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur, Team India's bowling coach, Morne Morkel, praised Rohit Sharma for leading from the front and going the aggressive path during their first innings against Bangladesh. With opener Yashasvi Jaiswal smashing 30 off first 13 balls and Rohit blasting 19 off first six deliveries, India mounted an attack on Bangladesh right away. The Indian opening pair broke the record for the fastest fifty in a Test match by scoring 55 runs between them in the first three overs.
"Even from GG's (Gautam Gambhir) point of view, we decided to take the game forward as fast as possible, and you need a leader from the front to do that. And Rohit has done it so many times, and again today. To go to the first ball, bang six on a surface where the bounce might be up and down, or you may not be sure how the new ball is going to play. You can also slightly go on the back foot as a bowling unit. So it was great to see the captain, leading from the front, putting in the charge," he said.
Rohit's fireworks show in Kanpur
Rohit fell for 23 runs from 11 balls, which included three huge sixes and a boundary. Jaiswal, meanwhile, was set to become the fastest centurion in Indian history until he went out following a brilliant 72 off just 51 balls. India had a day that broke records, so it was like a pro max version of bazball. Even the Bangladeshi side, according to Morkel, would not have anticipated such an onslaught from Indian hitters.
"To show the intent with the bat was awesome. I don't think, as a bowling unit, they (Bangladesh) expected that to happen. But it was always part of our game plan to see how can we push this forward and get the winning result," he added.
Indian batters shatter all records
India declared with 285 for 9 in just 34.4 overs, recording the greatest run-rate ever for a Test innings at 8.22 runs per over. Along the way, they broke a number of records, becoming the fastest team in men's Test history to achieve 50, 100, 150, 200, and 250 runs.
India smashed the previous mark set by England earlier this year, who needed 26 deliveries against the West Indies in Nottingham, by scoring their first fifty runs in just 18 balls. They then broke their own record, which they had set against the West Indies in Port of Spain in 2023, by reaching the 100-run milestone in just 10.1 overs. India achieved the 200-run mark in just 24.2 overs, surpassing the previous record of fastest 200 runs set by Australia in the Sydney Test against Pakistan in 2017. India's aggressive and powerful batting style was on display in this performance, which also set multiple records.
