Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century papers the cracks in the Indian batting lineup as England takes 6 wickets on Day 1
India and England once again went loggerheads as the second fixture of the five-match Test series kicked off on Friday in Visakhapatnam and the hosts stamped dominance with Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring a big century.
Skipper Rohit Sharma won the toss and decided his side would be batting first as Jaiswal and skipper Rohit came out to bat with James Anderson opening the bowling attack for the visitors at the ripe age of 41 years and 187 days.
While Anderson was successful in planting the seeds of doubt in the minds of the opening batters, Jaiswal kept ticking away the boundaries against the spinners to help India reach the 40-run mark by the drinks break.
After the first drinks break of Day 1, both batters seemed to go in a shell as Jaiswal played out a maiden over against left-arm spinner Tom Hartley. In the next over, skipper Rohit lost his wicket to debutant Shoaib Bashir as Ollie Pope completed the catch at backward short leg.
Shubhman Gill and Jaiswal re-built the innings in a 59-run partnership with the No.3 batter getting into a battle with Anderson. The English fast bowler had the last laugh as he finally got his 691st wicket after a long wait as he dismissed Gill on a score of 34 runs off 46 balls.
The wily Anderson dangled the ball in the channel outside off stump and Gill’s eyes sparkled seeing the room on offer but the Gujarat Titans skipper edged the ball and Ben Foakes completed the catch behind the stumps. In at No.4, Shreyas Iyer got off the mark with a boundary off the last ball of the 31st over helping India cross the 100-run mark and end the first session at a total score of 103/2.
The pair of Iyer and Jaiswal added 10 runs in the first six overs of the second session as both Mumbai batters, known for their aggressive style of cricket, tried to tread with caution. The right-hand batter finally broke the shackles as Joe Root bowled a half-tracker which deserved to be hit for the first boundary of the second session.
The Rajasthan Royals batter then came into his own as he smacked Root for a maximum over deep extra cover followed by three consecutive boundaries against Hartley in the 45th over.
On the third ball of the 49th over, the southpaw stepped out and smacked Hartley out of the park with a huge maximum over the long-on region as Jaiswal brought up his second Test century within 151 balls.
Shreyas is often seen tackling spinners well in the domestic circuit but the Mumbaikar once again threw away his wicket to an English spinner in Hartley as he was trying to play a cut shot but under-edged the ball and Foakes completed a neat catch behind the stumps. With Virat Kohli and KL Rahul set to return in the third test, Iyer is running out of time to stamp his position in the Indian lineup in red-ball cricket.
Debutant Rajat Patidar started cautiously and showed excellent defensive technique before helping India reach the 200-run mark with a well-taken single. Batting against fellow debutant Bashir, Patidar guided the ball to the off-side fence scoring his first boundary in Test cricket.
In the 59th over, Patidar smashed Root for two consecutive boundaries as India tried to increase their run rate after taking a steady approach following Iyer’s dismissal. Then, Rehan Ahmed finally got to bowl an over in the second test as Ben Stokes introduced him into the attack to tempt the Indian batters by dangling a wrist-spinner from one end of the 22-yard strip.
Jaiswal and Patidar were on the pitch when Tea was taken on Day 1 as the hosts were comfortably sailing at a score of 225/3.
While Anderson was keeping it tight at the start of the third session, Jaiswal took apart Ahmed in the 68th over, first stepping out to smash a maximum over the extra cover region and then going on the back foot to punch the ball behind the cover region for four runs.
Apart from those two boundaries that went to the fence, Ahmed was bowling pretty well and finally got a reward in a freak dismissal as Patidar was shocked by the immediate bounce on the first ball of the 72nd over. The ball hit the debutant on the glove before trickling towards the wickets and the Madhya Pradesh batter kicked the ball onto the stumps in a bid to get it away as Patidar ended his innings with 32 runs off 72 balls.
Axar Patel was promoted to No.6 in the absence of Ravindra Jadeja and the batter started tentatively as Jaiswal continued to showcase his shots. The southpaw achieved the 150-run mark with a fine boundary off Root’s bowling before Axar also decided to open up his arms and punish a couple of poor deliveries from Root for two consecutive boundaries.
On the first ball of the 80th over, Bashir got Jaiswal to edge the ball but it clipped Root’s fingers at first slip and ran away to the fence gifting the southpaw his 17th boundary of the innings.
Shoaib Bashir impressed on his debut dismissing Rohit Sharma and Axar Patel
Axar soon threw away his wicket playing a loose shot off Bashir’s bowling as Ahmed completed an easy catch ending his innings at a score of 27 runs off 51 balls. Srikar Bharat who represents Andhra Pradesh in the Ranji Trophy was quite acclimatized to the conditions as he started positively, smacking a couple of boundaries after getting used to the spinners.
On the last ball of the 89th over, Stokes decided to bring the field in as he wanted Bharat to take the strike in the next over and Jaiswal punished the visitors with a big six over the side screen. In the next over, Bharat went for the slog-sweep against the tall Bashir and it went for a maximum over the deep mid-wicket region.
Like Axar, Bharat played a loose cut shot straight to Bashir off Ahmed’s bowling as the favor was returned with the wicket-keeper getting dismissed for a score of 17 runs off 23 balls.
The English bowlers would also be happy as they pulled the game back in balance in the third session with all the bowlers impressing in parts except Root who went wicketless and was taken all over the park ending the day with an economy rate of more than 5.
Ravichandran Ashwin and Jaiswal saw out the day’s play as India ended up with 336 runs on the board at the loss of six wickets with the southpaw nearing a maiden double hundred.