Before Saturday, Rohit Sharma had gone just five Tests and eight innings without a three-figure knock. That only one of those eight hits had yielded a score in excess of 50, and he had five outings of less than 25, meant the tongues had started to wag, preceding scores of 212, 14, 127 and 176 conveniently forgotten.

If Rohit felt any pressure, real or imagined, it hardly showed. One of his great strengths has been to shut out the white noise and get on with the job. That’s precisely what he did at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Saturday.