Vizag: Captain Virat Kohli was lucky with the coin in the second Test match in Vizag and elected to bat first. The openers could not give the start India were hoping for. That is when in-form Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli came together and stitched a beautiful partnership. Pujara scored his 11th and Virat got to his 15th Test hundred scoring 124 and 167 runs, respectively. Ashwin and Jayant Yadav chipped in with important contributions towards the end and took India to a huge total of 455. Ashwin scored yet another fifty to carry on his batting form as well.
Debutant, Jayant Yadav showed some intent and added some important runs along with other tail-enders. Anderson was the pick of the bowlers in the first innings as he took some early wickets and came back again with the second new ball removing Ajinkya Rahane.
England lost wickets early in the first innings. Joe Root looked solid for his 53 but was removed by R Ashwin before he looked set for another big one. It was Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow who showed some composure and got together scoring 110 runs together but got out early into day 3. England were bundled out for 255 conceding a 200 run lead. R Ashwin took his 22nd five-wicket haul in 42 test matches. Jayant Yadav and R Jadeja on the other hand were a good helping hand for R Ashwin.
India came out to bat in the second innings losing their openers early yet again. KL Rahul, who was returning from an injury, failed miserably in both the innings. In-form batsman C Pujara also lost his wicket early. But Virat Kohli, playing his 50th test match was on-fire, scoring a brilliant 81 on a very tough wicket and under tough situation as well. Jayant Yadav scored some vital runs in the end yet again as England required 405 runs to win the match.
England came out in an all-defensive mode as openers H Hameed and Alastair Cook surviving almost 2 sessions of play. Cook got out on the last ball of the 4th day after surviving 188 balls for his very good 54. On the 5th day Mohammad Shami and Ravindra Jadeja took some important wickets early to break England's back. Ashwin and Jayant wrapped up the tail taking India to the victory.
Almost a perfect performance from Virat Kohli's men, as they were clinical in all the three departments of the game. It was the 13th victory out of the 15 matches played at home since January 2013.
Virat Kohli, in his 50th test match was named the man-of-the-match scoring 167 in the first innings and 81 in the second.
R Ashwin gave another impressive performance, claiming 8 wickets in the match and scoring 58 runs with the bat.
Jayant Yadav had an impressive debut scoring some runs, picking wickets and claiming a run out as well.
India take a 1-0 lead and look forward to the Mohali test.
