Honours even, said Kevin Pietersen as players took lunch break on Day 1 of the second India vs England Test in Visakhapatnam Friday. India, batting first, were 103/2 in 31 overs with Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shreyas Iyer unbeaten on 51 off 92 and 4 off 7, respectively. For England, Shoaib Bashir and James Anderson claimed a wicket apiece, those of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. (Live Blog | Streaming | Cricket News)
Rohit won the toss and opted to bat first. The hosts, having a tested defeat a few days ago in Hyderabad, started cautiously. By the end of 16th over, at Drinks, India reached 40 without losing a wicket with Rohit and Jaiswal unbeaten on 26 off 58 and 14 off 38, respectively. Watchful!
Nine balls later, however, Rohit lost his wicket. A flick and caught at backward square by Ollie Pope, the player of the match from the first Test. Easy take, and the India captain walked back disappointed, once again. In three innings against England in this five-match series, he has scores of 24 and 39 in Hyderabad and 14 in Vizag.
Shoaib Bashir celebrated the wicket with a roar. After all, this was his first wicket in Test cricket on debut. The 20-year-old off-spinner, who was denied the visa earlier and missed the Hyderabad match, started playing First-Class cricket only last year. He now has 11 wickets in FC.
After a brief rebuilding, India lost the wicket of Shubman Gill in the 29th over -- falling to veteran James Anderson for the fifth time in seven innings. Shubman (34 off 46), caught by Ben Foakes, and Anderson, 41, now has 691 wickets.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
