Jaiswal’s stroke-filled hundred takes India to 225/3 at tea

Visakhapatnam, Feb 2 (PTI) Young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal struck a high-quality hundred to push India to 225 for three at tea on day one of the second Test against England here on Friday.

Jaiswal (125 batting off 185 balls) changed the tempo of the innings with his attractive strokeplay in the second session in which India collected 122 runs in 32 overs.

Shreyas Iyer (27 off 59) was the lone batter to be dismissed in the afternoon. The southpaw, who took 89 balls to reach his half-century in the morning, took another 62 deliveries to complete his second Test century.

The 22-year-old had made 171 on his Test debut in the Caribbean last year.

Jaiswal and debutant Rajat Patidar (25 batting off 47) were at the crease at tea.

The standout feature of Jaiswal’s innings was his ability to hit the ground and aerial shots with equal ease.

His fearless approach was best summed when he stepped out to smash let-arm spinner Tom Hartley for a six over long on to get to three figures. He raised his arms in celebration with the Vizag crowd and teammates duly applauding his special feat.

Jaiswal played a lot of cuts off the spinners in the early part of his innings but turned to drives and lofted drives against them in second session.

He mainly attacked Hartley, collecting three straight fours in the 45th over, including drives past the bowler and through extra cover. His inside out shots were also a treat to watch, especially the six off Joe Root.

He shared a 90-run stand with Iyer, who once again failed to capitalized on a start. It came as no surprise that Anderson employed the short ball tactic against Iyer, who was up to the task on the day.

However, he tried to cut one off Hartley and ended up under edging to Ben Foakes, who took a sharp catch behind the stumps.

After his dismissal, Patidar joined Jaiswal and looked comfortable from the get go. He also did not shy away from playing the reverse sweep.

In the morning, England’s debutant spinner Shoaib Bashir got the prized wicket of India captain Rohit Sharma as the cautious hosts reached 103 for two at lunch.

Shubman Gill (34 off 46) looked good before James Anderson had him caught behind with a beauty.

India expectedly decided to bat first on a flat surface and made three changes to their playing eleven, bringing in Patidar, Kuldeep Yadav and Mukesh Kumar for K L Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Siraj respectively.

Found guilty of throwing away their wickets in Hyderabad, the opening combine of Rohit and Jaiswal batted in a sedate fashion especially in the first hour of play, collecting only 40 runs in 16 overs.

England opened the bowling with their lone pacer in the playing eleven, Anderson, and off-spinner Root. Anderson was accurate and frugal in his opening spell, giving away only six runs in five overs.

The surface had minimal help for him but the 41-year-old still made life tough for Rohit by targeting his stumps. It was very unlike Rohit to not to go for his shots and his innings ended without a boundary.

The India captain eventually fell in the 18th over when off-spinner Bashir got one to turn sharply and Rohit flicked it straight to Ollie Pope at leg-slip. Jaiswal, on the other hand, showed much more positive intent.

He used the sweep shot sparingly and got majority of his boundaries with the cut shot.

Jaiswal whipped a full toss from Bashir for the first six of his innings before reaching his half-century with a four through point.

Gill was outsmarted by Anderson in his second spell as the veteran pacer got one to straighten slightly from the off-stump to get the outside edge from the batter.