- Saturday, July 27, 2024
The left-handed opener’s knock was full of patience and precision as he played spirited England spinners with solid determination and fended off challenges from the veteran Anderson.
By: Shubham Ghosh
INDIA opener Yashasvi Jaiswal made a strong statement with the bat in the second Test against England at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium Stadium in Visakhapatnam on Friday (2) when he hit an unbeaten century on the first day, making amends for his dismissal in the 80s in the previous match.
The 22-year-old left-handed batter put up a solid show against the visiting spinners and particularly fended off a tough challenge from veteran pacer James Anderson who bowled miserly. Jaiswal, who hit his second hundred in just his sixth Test, completed his century in 151 balls and held one side together as the hosts reached 250 for the loss of four wickets.
The hosts were 336 for the loss of six wickets at stumps with Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 179 off 257 balls, his best score in the long format. He was accompanied by Ravichandran Ashwin who was batting on five.
Jaiswal’s previous century came in his debut match last year in July, when he slammed 171 against the West Indies in Roseau.
Read: Tom Hartley hopes for ‘respect’ after spinning England to incredible win vs India in 1st Test
Earlier, India made a cautious start to their innings after captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat. Sharma added 40 runs with Yashasvi in the first 17 over before falling against England’s debutant spinner Shoaib Bashir. Jaiswal then gradually accelerated his scoring and added 49 runs with Shubman Gill (34) for the second wicket in 11 overs. He picked up his fifty in the final stages of the morning session. After Gill’s fall, Jaiswal added crucial 90 runs with Shreyas Iyer (27) and 70 with debutant Rajat Patidar (32).
Read: Debutant Hartley hurts India, claims 7 as England win 1st Test by 28 runs
Barring a few communication lapses with Iyer between the wickets, Jaiswal remained firmly focused on his batting and reached his century in the 49th over of the innings.
Jaiswal reached the coveted three-figure mark with a six over long-on against Tom Hartley, who spun England to a 28-run win in the first Test.
For England, Bashir and fellow spinner Rehan Ahmed took two wickets each while Hartley and Anderson took one each.
India were without the service of some key players in the match, including Virat Kohli who opted out of the first two matches due to personal reasons and KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, both of whom sustained injuries in the previous game.
