Visakhapatnam: England’s openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett came out unscathed from the small period of batting for 20 minutes in the first session after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 209 carried India to a first-innings total of 396 on day two of second Test at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium Saturday.
At lunch, England are 32/0 in six overs and trail India by 364 runs. After seeing off Jasprit Bumrah’s opening over, Duckett’s first boundary came off an inside edge against Mukesh Kumar, while Crawley whipped the pacer for four to get off the mark. Duckett was more assured at the crease, seen from him taking three boundaries off Mukesh in the fourth over, to make it England’s session with both bat and ball.
Earlier, Jaiswal converted his overnight score of 179 not out into a maiden double century in Tests, though India missed out on reaching 400 by just four runs. Playing in just his sixth Test match, Jaiswal mixed caution and aggression in equal measure and stood tall even as his team-mates fell from the other end.
He become the third youngest Indian batter to score a double hundred in Test cricket, via a six and four off debutant England spinner Shoaib Bashir in the 102nd over. His incredible career-best knock of 209 from 290 balls was laced with 19 fours and seven sixes, before being dismissed by veteran fast-bowler James Anderson.
But it was a morning which made England happy as India’s last four wickets fell for only 32 runs. Anderson took three wickets in his miserly spell while Bashir and Rehan Ahmed also took three scalps each.
In the morning, Ravichandran Ashwin was exquisite in his cover drives off Bashir, while Jaiswal, who survived an lbw appeal off Anderson, whacked the off-spinner by dancing down the pitch to smack a six over long-on to enter the 190s. Anderson got the first wicket of the morning when he squared up Ashwin on defence and wicketkeeper Ben Foakes took the catch behind.
Jaiswal brought up his double-hundred in style with back-to-back boundaries off Bashir – a slog-sweep over backward square leg for six was followed by sweeping a full toss for four. Jaiswal celebrated by removing his helmet, jumping with joy and blowing kisses to a weekend crowd giving him a standing ovation and chanting his name to applaud a magnificent knock by the youngster.
He then tried taking the attack against Anderson – a thick edge on being squared up went for four. But Jaiswal lost his wicket when he tried to slice off Anderson after coming down the pitch, only for deep cover to take the catch. It brought an end to a momentous knock from Jaiswal, who was rightfully given a standing ovation by everyone in the stadium on his way back to the dugout.
India’s innings ended swiftly after Jaiswal’s fall as Bumrah edged to first slip off Ahmed and Mukesh too fell in the same fashion off Bashir, as the hosts’ fell short of 400 by just four runs. With the pitch still playing relatively well, though there’s been some evidence of variable bounce for spinners when Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav were introduced into the bowling attack at the stroke of lunch, it sets up the platform nicely for a big second session.
Brief scores: India 396 in 112 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 209, Shubman Gill 34; James Anderson 3-47, Rehan Ahmed 3-65) lead England 32/0 in six overs (Ben Duckett 17 not out, Zak Crawley 15 not out) by 364 runs.
