MANCHESTER: On the big stage, against Pakistan, India's vice-captain Rohit Sharma raised a fluent 85-ball 100 to give the team a solid start here on Sunday.
Rohit, opening the batting for the first time with K.L. Rahul in the absence of injured Shikhar Dhawan, smashed nine fours and three huge sixes en route his 24th ODI ton.
The 32-year old was lucky to survive a run-out chance in the 11th over when a hesitation between him and Rahul saw Rohit way out of his crease, but Shadab Khan did superbly well to pick up the ball one-hand but got the direction of the throw wrong.
Rohit has been in sublime form throughout the World Cup. He joined an elite list of cricketers, becoming only the fourth player to aggregate 2,000 runs in One-Day Internationals against Australia in India's last game after their tie against New Zealand was washed off.
Rohit, along with Sachin Tendulkar, Sir Viv Richards and Desmond Haynes complete the list.
The Mumbai batsman notched up the mark in his 37th innings against Australia -- the fastest to do so, and did so in style with a square drive to Glenn Maxwell for a four.
Tendulkar took 51 innings to reach the milestone while Haynes and Richards took 59 and 45 innings respectively.