India vs England Report: It felt like there were two different stories going on in India’s innings on Day 1 of the 2nd Test against England in Visakhapatnam. Yashasvi Jaiswal notched up his second Test century and batted with an elite control of 90 percent. However, at the other end, he kept losing partners frequently; not one batter was able to stitch up a century stand with the left-handed opener, who batted throughout the day to score 179* off 257 balls.
Barring a couple of thick outside edges that flew past Joe Root at first slip, Yashasvi Jaiswal played a mostly chanceless innings. The highlight of it was his confidence in picking his deliveries to attack while reining in against good balls from the likes of James Anderson. Other India batters, though, failed to take a leaf out of Jaiswal’s book, and it can be said fairly that they all—six of them—threw their wickets away with soft dismissals.
The Day 1 pitch in Visakhapatnam was probably the best or second-best—the one in Ahmedabad last year against Australia was utterly dead and dull—as we have seen in Test cricket in India since 2021. Rohit Sharma got the first slice of luck on his side as he won the toss, and the Indian captain elected to bat first.
Check Out: India vs England 2nd Test Day 1 Report
India vs England Report: Yashasvi Jaiswal remains India’s last hope to reach 400
While Jaiswal cut, flayed, and pulled, Rohit, surprisingly, was in his shell, scoring 14 runs in 41 balls before giving his wicket to debutant Shoaib Bashir. Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer—both batsmen playing for their place in this Test with Virat Kohli expected to return in the third Test and Sarfaraz Khan waiting in the wings—also got starts, but Gill outside-edged Anderson for 34 and Iyer outside-edged Tom Hartley for 27.
Debutant Rajat Patidar looked solid before falling to leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed for 32. Axar Patel (27) matched Jaiswal shot for shot with his four sumptuous boundaries, but he and KS Bharat (17) after he gave catching practice to the point fielders with aerial cut shots.
Jaiswal, though, remained unfazed by losing batting partners regularly and kept going at the England bowling attack that had three inexperienced spinners. The 22-year-old carved 17 fours and 5 disdainful sixes—he brought up his century with a powerful strike down the ground off Hartley—and still holds fort for India if the hosts, currently at 336/6, have to go past 400 on Day 2.
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