Sunil Gavaskar is one among the list of commentators appointed by the BCCI for the five-match Test series between India and England.
Visakhapatnam: Legendary Sunil Gavaskar left his commentary duties midway on Day 1 of the ongoing second Test match between India and England on Friday after his mother-in-law passed away, according to reports. Although not official, but it is understood that the former India captain will not further commentate in the match at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium. As soon as the news came, Gavaskar left Visakhapatnam and left for Kanpur immediately.
Talking about day’s play, Yashasvi Jaiswal batted with supreme confidence for an unbeaten 179 off 257 balls that single-handedly drove India to 336/6 and secured his place at the top of the order for the foreseeable future. Unlike the series opener, Jaiswal made sure he converted his strong start into a big hundred but the other Indian batters failed to make the most of batting-friendly conditions.
The 22-year-old now has two hundreds and as many fifties to his name in only his 10th Test innings. His maiden Test ton — a 387-ball 171 — came against the West Indies last year. Jaiswal, whose special effort comprised 17 boundaries and five sixes, had Ravichandran Ashwin (5) by his side at stumps.
India made 111 runs in the final session for the loss of three wickets including Axar Patel (27 off 51) and KS Bharat (17 off 23). For England, debutant Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed picked up two wickets apiece. Debutant Rajat Patidar (32 off 72) played one on to his stumps while offering a forward defence to leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed. A total of 93 overs were bowled with four spinners in operation.
Trailing 0-1 in the five-match series, India would like to get to at least 500 on day two and then put pressure on the England batters on a pitch where variable bounce is expected to come into play from day three. The odd ball kept low even on the opening day but conditions remained favourable of the batters.
However, the injury to Ravindra Jadeja has resulted in a longer tail, which will need to wag for India to get anywhere close to 500. Veteran James Anderson, playing his first game since July last year, was the most economical and effective bowler for England, returning figures of 17-3-30-1.
However, England’s inexperienced spin attack, including debutant Shoaib Bashir, Tom Hartley, Rehan Ahmed and Joe Root, could not extract much out of the surface. The 20-year-old Bashir was the pick of the spinners as he was able to generate more bounce due to his tall structure. The 6’4″ tall off-spinner got the prized wicket of Rohit Sharma in the first session before he had Axar caught at backward point towards the end of the day.
With PTI Inputs