Former England captain Alastair Cook felt Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s record unbeaten knock of 179 on Day 1 of the second Test in Visakhapatnam hid India‘s weakened batting line-up. The opener’s second career Test century single-handedly propelled India to 336 for six by the end of play on Friday, and while Cook was high on Jaiswal’s knock, fellow former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen believes England took the overall honours on Day 1 despite the youngster’s efforts.
Jaiswal looked in complete control on Friday, playing a fearless brand cricket which he had talked about after missing a century in the first Test last week, as he smashed 17 boundaries and five sixes to notch up the highest individual score of his young career. His previous best was a knock of 171 on debut in West Indies last year.
The other six batters, including India captain Rohit Sharma, combined to score just 157 runs with no one individually going past 34.
Speaking to TNT Sports at the end of Day 1, Cook, who starred in England historic 2012 series win in India, said that Jaiswal’s ‘outstanding’ knock overshadowed the poor returns with the bat from the remaining line-up.
‘He has been absolutely outstanding, Jaiswal. He is 179 not out, while the rest of the Indian team are technically 158-6, on a pretty good day one pitch. India’s fragile batting lineup is still there, but it has just been hidden by a quite superb innings when his side really needed him,” Cook said.
For Pietersen, there’s a clear winner on Day 1
Pietersen, speaking on Jio Cinema, made a bold statement at the end of Day 1, saying that England are ahead in the match due to India’s approach in the Vizag Test. Rohit, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, debutant Rajat Patidar, Axar Patel and KS Bharat all got off the blocks on a promising note, but failed to convert their starts.
“One thing we know about England is when they come out to bat, they are going to attack, score quickly and score positively. They are not going to come in and bat the way India have batted today. I think that has put England ahead in the game. I say that because there wasn’t any gremlin on the pitch on Day 1. The bounce was even and there wasn’t any crazy spin to make me feel that India should be more than 3 or 4 down,” he said.
India will resume Day 2 with Jaiswal hoping to get to his maiden double century while Ravichandran Ashwin, on 5* off 10, will be aiming to ably assist the youngster as the home team targets a 500-plus total in the first innings.
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