First player to hit two hundreds in their first Test match as an opening batsman

Rohit Sharma (India) scored 176 runs in the first innings and 127 in the second innings of a Test match against South Africa at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, India, on 2–3 and 5 October 2019. The opener had previously played 27 Test matches for India batting at numbers 3-6, scoring three hundreds in 47 innings in the process.

Sharma hit six first-innings and seven second-innings sixes in Visakhapatnam, setting a new record for the most sixes by a player in a Test match (male) – 13. Sharma’s 13 sixes were among the 37 hit in the match against South Africa – the most sixes in a Test match.

Sharma’s knocks were his sixth and seventh consecutive Test scores of 50 or more in his homeland, surpassing Rahul Dravid’s previous home record of six 50+ scores.

Sharma was stumped by Quinton de Kock off the bowling of Keshav Maharaj in both innings – the first time in his first-class career that he’d been stumped.

India won the match by 203 runs after bowling out the visitors for 191 on the fifth and final day of the first Test match of the series.