India’s Shreyas Iyer in action on Day 1 of second Test vs England.© BCCI
Yashasvi Jaiswal saved India’s blushes on the opening day of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam. On a surface where other batters of the host team struggled to score runs, Jaiswal batted with supreme confidence for an unbeaten 179 off 257 balls that single-handedly drove India to 336 for six at Stumps. The second-highest run-scorer for the side was Shubman Gill with a knock of 34. While commenting on the performance of the batters on the opening day, former India pacer RP Singh said that the team will have to drop some players.
“I feel India have to make some harsh calls and leave a couple of players out of the team going forward. I am really disappointed with Shubman Gill and Shreyas Iyer. They are with the team for quite some time now and need to take more responsibility. If you score 25-30 runs and then throw your wicket, then it’s hurting the team,” said RP Singh on Cricbuzz.
Talking about the game, Jaiswal made sure he converted his strong start into a big hundred. The 22-year-old now has two hundreds and as many fifties to his name in only his 10th Test innings. His Test ton — a 387-ball 171 — came against the West Indies last year.
Jaiswal, whose special effort comprised 17 boundaries and five sixes, had R Ashwin (5) by his side at stumps.
Trailing 0-1 in the five-match series, India would aim to put pressure on England on a pitch where variable bounce is expected to come into play from day three.
The odd ball kept low even on the opening day but conditions remained favourable of the batters.
On the other hand, England’s inexperienced spin attack, including debutant Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Joe Root, could not extract much out of the surface.
(With PTI Inputs)
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