In the second Test of the five-match series, India defeated England by 106 runs at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam.
Rohit Sharma won the toss and opted to bat first. Yashasvi Jaiswal (209) was the star of the first inning for Team India as he smashed an incredible double ton. The youngster showcased some of his finest shots, which included 19 fours and seven sixes. Except for Jaiswal, no one else even scored a fifty. Shubman Gill (34), and Rajat Patidar (32) were the only ones who scored in the 30’s. India reached 396/10 at the end of their first inning.
In response to this, England just managed to score 253 runs in their first inning. Zak Crawley (76) scored a magnificent half-century, which had 11 fours and two sixes. While other batters got some start, they couldn’t capitalise on it. Ben Stokes (47) was the next best scorer, while Jonny Bairstow (25), Ollie Pope (23) and others also contributed a few runs.
On a spin-friendly surface, Jasprit Bumrah, surprisingly, scalped six wickets, while three wickets were taken by Kuldeep Yadav and one by Axar Patel.
For ENG, legendary bowler James Anderson, debutant Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed clinched three wickets each, while Tom Hartley took one wicket in the first inning.
The home team was steering the game and while batting second, the side chose to bat quite aggressively. Gill (104) smashed a century, which had 11 fours and two sixes. Axar (45) also contributed valuable runs, while Shreyas Iyer (29) also had a decent outing with India’s no 3. India finished their second inning with the bat with 255 runs on board.
Chasing over 400, the Stokes-led team once again had intended to go all out on bowlers, which eventually led to their downfall in the match. Yet again, Zak Crawley (73) scored an impressive half-century but unfortunately, there was no one to support him from the other end. The team was restricted to just 292 runs.
While defending in the last inning, Ravichandran Ashwin impressed with his scintillating bowling show as he grabbed three wickets. The veteran spinner is now one short of 500 wickets in his Test career. Bumrah also took three wickets, while one wicket each was claimed by Mukesh Kumar, Kuldeep, and Axar.
For the visitors, four wickets were grabbed by Tom Hartley, while Ahmed got three wickets. Two wickets were also taken by Anderson and one by Bashir.
Jasprit Bumrah was awarded with the Player of the Match for his electrifying nine-wicket haul in the match. With this win, India have levelled the series by 1-1.
Scorecard:
1st Innings
India: 396/10, Overs 112, Yashasvi Jaiswal 209, James Anderson 3/47
England: 253/10, Overs 55.5, Zak Crawley 76, Jasprit Bumrah 6/45
2nd Innings
India: 255/10, Overs 78.3, Shubman Gill 104, Tom Hartley 4/77
England: 292/10, Overs 69.2, Zak Crawley 73, Jasprit Bumrah 3/46