IND Vs ENG: The home side will now fight out to draw the series at home after India lost the first Test match in Hyderabad by 28 runs. India had some tactical errors when they bowled and batted in the second innings.
England had a right approach towards the game even after they weren’t that competitive in the first innings.
India had restricted England to just 246 runs in the first innings with the ball and then the batters piled up 436 runs to be in that dominant position.
However, the Men in Blue failed to use the opportunity to dent the England innings when they had lost five wickets for just 163 runs on the board.
It was Ollie Pope’s brilliant 196-run knock which took the game away from India and then Tom Hartley bowled with his full heart even after he leaked runs in the 1st innings.
Hartley picked up seven wickets and because of that the visitors are 1-0 ahead in this five-match red ball series.
Now India will have to bounce back to level the series to one all just like they did in South Africa. Rohit Sharma and his men were successful in levelling the series to 1-1 for just the second time in the history of Test match Cricket in the Proteas Nation.
But in this current series, India will not have four key players in their squad. KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja have been injured. With that, Virat Kohli and Mohammed Shami are not part of the 2nd Test match at Vizag as well.
Kohli will be part of the Indian squad for the 3rd Test onwards and there is no news on Shami as of now.
So India will have to play with the talented youngsters. But their experience is less at the international level. Washington Sundar might be a like-for-like replacement for Ravindra Jadeja because Sundar can add depth in the batting order just like Jaddu.
India can also think of Kuldeep Yadav, who is more of an accurate bowler than Axar Patel. Axar's bowling form is not that great in the red ball format.
But his contribution with the bat in the lower order position has proved vital for the team up till now.
Rajat Patidar or Shahbaz Ahmed can make their Test debut for India in the absence of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli. Both these young batters can play well in the conditions which they know because of their experience gained from the Indian Premier League and domestic cricket matches.
Match – India Vs England 2nd Test Match
Day – Friday To Tuesday
Date – 2nd February 2024 to 6th February 2024
Venue – Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam
Toss Timings – 9 AM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 3.30 AM GMT
Match Timings – 9.30 AM Indian Standard Time (IST) and Local, 4 AM GMT.
TV Channels – Sports Network 18 For English Commentary and Colors Cineplex for Hindi commentary
Live Streaming App – JioCinema Mobile Application.
India - Rohit Sharma(c), Yashaswi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar/Shahbaz Ahmed, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav/Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.
India had played a Test match versus England in Vizag during the 2016 Test series and India had won that game by a margin of 246 runs.
Virat Kohli was the top scorer in that match. He scored 167 runs in the first innings and 81 runs in the second innings. India will surely miss a batter like him.
In the overall stats of India at Vizag, the Men in Blue have played two red ball games at Visakhapatnam and they have won both of them.
Apart from their win against England, India has also won a test match at that same venue against South Africa in 2019.
The current skipper of India’s Test side, Rohit Sharma can draw an inspiration from his own past innings at Vizag. HITMAN smashed two Test centuries when India last played at that stadium.
Sharma Ji scored 176 runs in the first innings and 127 runs in the second innings of the first Test match played versus South Africa. India went on to win that game by 203 runs.
