Vizag: A little more than a session was all it took for India to take the reaming eight wickets and go 1-0 up in the series against England. As expected, eight out of the 10 wickets to fall were taken by the spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and debutant Jayant Yadav. India’s bowlers bowled another 38.1 Overs this morning and ensured that India won the game by a mammoth 246 runs, here at Played at Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam on Monday.
Most of the work was done in the crucial morning session itself, when England drowned from 87 for 2 overnight to 142 for 7 at lunch, and the tail did not wag this time around and batsmen showed either little or no resistance, the only exception being Jonny Bairstow and Joe Root.
While Bairstow somehow managed to survive and stay not out on 34 of 40 balls, England’s technical magician of the day was once again Joe Root who faced a 107 balls for his 25 runs, most of the time meeting spin bowling with the middle of his bat. However, Joe Root was dismissed by India’s pacer Mohammad Shami.
India’s great bowling effort started when Ben Duckett was dismissed by R Ashwin for a naught. This might also mean England might give a nod to Jos Butler ahead of Ben Duckett for the next Test at Mohali. Next to go was Moeen Ali, who became a victim of Ravindra Jadeja’s excellent delivery. Ben Stokes looked comfortable as long as he was there, but then Virat Kohli opted for the second new ball and also ended a marathon spell by Ravindra Jadeja, who was replaced by Jayant Yadav.
And Jayant didn’t disappoint at all. By a gem of a delivery, he got rid of good looking Ben Stokes who also acknowledged the beautiful ball by Jayant Yadav when he went past him for celebration. Joe Root was dismissed 9 balls later and that was surely it, perhaps the match was done then itself and formalities remained which India did complete handsomely.
Jayant Yadav wrapped up India’s victory in style with two wickets in two balls and James Anderson got out for a duck of his first ball for both the innings, a King pair.
While Alastair Cook will have a lot to do for the next three matches if England need to perform well and repeat their previous heroics in India, especially because although the picth turned, it wasn’t an unplayable one and Alastair Cook, H Hameed and Virat Kohli did show that with application and composure it was possible to bat on the track and score runs. Clearly, Virat Kohli (Man-of-the-Match) was the difference between the two as he scored a 248 runs in the match and England remained a 247 short of the target.
But still India’s biggest positive would be debutant Jayant Yadav’s all round performance whose temperament and composure at the highest level of cricket was fantastic and he may very well turn out to be a key member of India’s Test team. That’s it from Vishakhapatnam’s Dr YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium for now.
