World Cup 2019 | 'Hitman on fire', laud netizens as Rohit Sharma's splendid ton gives India comfortable victory against South Africa in their opener

Rohit Sharma became the first Indian batsman to score a century in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Opening the innings for India in their run chase of 228, he initially took his time to settle down as Kagiso Rabada was bowling a brilliant opening spell. Rohit's responsibility increased when the 'Men In Blue' lost their top-order batsmen Shikhar Dhawan (8) and Virat Kohli (18) as India were in a spot of bother at 54/2.

The Hitman then stitched in an 85-run stand with KL Rahul who was given the opportunity to bat at number 4. The Indian vice-captain took the attack to the spinners as he brought up his 23rd One-Day International century to put India in the driver's seat.

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Here's how the Twitterverse reacted after watching Rohit's Superhit show with the bat.

Earlier, India did very well to restrict South Africa to 227/9 in their 50 overs at Southampton on Wednesday. The 'Men In Blue', who were playing their first match of the showpiece event, did not let the Proteas get away as the Indian bowlers chipped in with wickets at regular intervals, because of which they could never get going. At one stage, they looked in deep trouble at 89/5. However, some decent performances from the middle and lower order took them to a decent total.

Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers for India with figures of 4/51 in his 10 overs at an economy rate of 5.10. On the other hand, all-rounder Chris Morris was the top-scorer for South Africa with a 34-ball 42.

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