Rohit Sharma justified his promotion as Test opener by slamming three classy centuries in the ongoing series against South Africa at home.

Rohit, who had registered the scores of 176 and 127 across the two innings in the first Test at Vizag, smashed 212 in the first innings of third Test in Ranchi to help India pile up a mammoth 497/9 (declared).

WATCH: Rohit Sharma takes a hilarious dig at reporters after maiden double century

With this herculean effort, Rohit became the third-ever batsman after Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Chris Gayle to score a double ton across two formats. By smoking 19 sixes, he has also set a new world record of most maximums in a Test series.

Following his heroics on Day 1 & 2 in Ranchi, former Pakistan speedster Shoaib Akhtar showered rich praise on Rohit, saying the Mumbaikar has “finally realised what he is capable off.”

Hailing his double ton, Akhtar said people will now have to accept that Rohit is a highly skilled batsman and he has it in him to score runs at will.

The Rawalpindi Express also opined that Rohit has wasted 5-6 years of his Test career and should have made 10,000 runs in the longest format by now. But he also added that the India opener has now realised his true potential and thus he is hungry to make the most of his lost time.

“Rohit Sharma is taking a revenge from his own self. He wants to make it up the time that he lost not to play for India in the last five years properly. He could have played 45-50 Test matches in the last five years,” Akhtar said.

Here’s the video: