How India downed England in Vizag?

India scripted a famous win against England in the second test match of the series in Vizag.

Virat Kohli continued his excellent form, both as a captain and a player, as he led his side to an all time 2nd biggest win over England.

It was the 92nd test win for India at home. India haven't lost at home since January 2013. A record which displays the kind of form Team India are in.

Virat Kohli has become the face of cricket in India. He is a consummate professional and time and again he shows it on the field. India is lucky to have a player of his credibility. 

Let's have a look at things which proved to be the difference between India and England:-

1. Bowlers-  

Rajkot was not so good for Ashwin and co. as they were criticized for lacking hunger and attacking intent.

But in Vizag, Ashwin reminded everyone why he is the best bowler of tests in the world. Taking his first 5-wicket haul and 22nd overall in the first innings. Ashwin clearly made all the doubters hide their faces.

His strict bowling and knocking out key wickets pressurized England in both the innings. And he ended the match with a total of 8 wickets.
The pitch was not so helping in turn and bounce. But he made sure his arsenal has enough armoury to tease and trouble the English batsmen.

Ashwin had a great support in the face of Jadeja. Both strangled the English batsmen, not allowing them to pick any run. This pressure from the spinners helped the seamers too.

Mohammed Shami was deadly with the 2nd new ball in the first session of the last day, picking up a crucial wicket of Joe Root.

Ashwin with 8 wickets in this test took his tally to 56 and is now the leading wicket-taker in tests this year. Rangana Herath is 2nd with 54.

2. Virat Kohli' individual brilliance- 

On the pitch where England batsmen struggled to get going, here was a man who scored a 150+.

The talent this player has, sometimes it cannot be described in words. He came out to bat when India were 2 down in the first half hour on the first morning of the test. His temperament, composure and ability to overcome any situation, shows why he is undoubtedly India's and world's best batsman.

Virat's 167 in the first innings and Pujara's 119 helped India put up a big total on board.
In 2nd innings, no Indian batsmen really held onto the crease, but Kohli again scored 81. He really proved to be a big difference with his bat.

3. Jayant Yadav -

 The debutant, who produced an all-round performance was the icing on the cake.
His experience in First-class cricket helped him earn the praise he is receiving from everyone. 

First with the bat in the 1st innings, partnering with fellow off spinner Ashwin to add some runs at the end and then with the bowl picking up a crucial wicket of Moeen Ali with the help of DRS. 

In his first match, his understanding of the game was plausible.
Jayant didn't stop here, in 2nd innings he scalped 3 wickets, and helped India won the match with a big margin.
Kohli and Ashwin heaped praise on Jayant after the game and why not. After all he produced such an excellent performance.

The players are high on confidence and ready to win a series against the only team which has not lost in India in last 4 years. 

Next test starts on 26th November in Mohali.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

India put England under real pressure

It was a good day for India, as they need 8 wickets to win on the last day of the Test.

When India resumed their innings today from 98/3, they lost wickets at regular intervals, Broad and Adil Rashid gave a tough time to the Indian batsmen. 

Rahane, Ashwin were dismissed by Stuart Broad and then Saha and Kohli by Adil Rashid. Kohli was caught by Ben Stokes, who pulled off a brilliant catch in the slips. India were 151/7. They needed to bat for some more time to get to a more comfortable position.

Jadeja, Jayant Yadav and Mohammad Shami scored some valuable runs to get India past 200.
Mohammad Shami was the last batsman to got out. He was stumped trying to hit Rashid's delivery out of the park.

India scored 204 runs and gave England a huge target of 405 runs with 5 sessions to play.

England knew the wicket won't be favorable to bat as abrupt bounce would make it tough.

Both the England openers were resilient from the start. They didn't throw away any wicket in the second session. And scored just 40 runs in 28 overs.

After tea England openers stood firm.
There was also two appeals made by the Indians, which umpires turned down and although India reviewed,  England got away with both the decisions because of the umpire's call.

India didn't give up though as Ashwin got the much needed breakthrough dismissing Haseeb Hameed. It took 51 overs to get the first wicket and Ashwin thoroughly deserved it.

In the last over of the day, Jadeja struck a body blow for England when Alastair Cook was given Lbw. He reviewed the decision but the three reds means India ended day on a high.

With England in real pressure to save the test match on the last day. Joe Root remained not out at 5 runs.

England finished day at 87/2 and need another 318 runs to win.

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Test 2 Day 2 Review- India all over England

India making a statement on the 2nd day of the Test

Never doubt the Indian spinners, India in a commanding position at the end of Day 2. Ashwin & co. got on the England batsmen nerves.

Have a detailed look at how the day unfolded :  

Virat departed early

Virat Kohli was gone in the first hour of the morning session, by Moeen Ali. Just a ball earlier Ashwin was dropped by Ben Stokes, a simple catch in the slips and he dropped letting Indian batsmen complete a single. On the very next ball he took Virat Kohli's catch, a rather tough catch. 

Virat scored 167. India were on 351/5.

Use of DRS still needs to be sorted out 

16 runs were added then India lost a couple of wickets in a single over of Moeen Ali, in the form of Wriddhiman Saha and Ravindra Jadeja, both LBW. Saha reviewed the decision which looked out clearly and Jadeja didn't, but the replay showed that Jadeja should have reviewed it as the ball went onto to missed the stumps. 

Crucial Partnership 

R. Ashwin and debutant Jayant Yadav took India out of the chaos, as they added 52 runs together to take India across 400 mark, reaching 415 runs at lunch. 

Jayant Yadav proved his worth by scoring some important runs and building a partnership with Ashwin for the 8th wicket. 

Post Lunch session

England needed to wrap up things quickly but stubborn Ashwin and Jayant were not taking any chances. Ashwin completed his 8th Test fifty, and was looking to score big. But at the score of 58 he edged the ball into the hands wicketkeeper Bairstow. Ben Stokes took his wicket. India were 427/8.

After Ashwin's wicket it seemed, it was just a matter of time before India got bowled out but still they managed to add some runs and managed to cross 450 run mark. 

Umesh Yadav was the last one to got out and India finished their 1st innings at 455. 

India strike early

After putting up a big score of 455, India needed to control the tune of the match. They needed an early wicket to do so and Mohammad Shami did it for India. The ball just drifted slightly inside and managed to sneak under the bat of Alastair Cook and his off stump was out of the ground. The ball hit so hard that the stump was broken in two pieces. 

Joe Root tried getting England out of the trauma

Indian spinners were in full swing. Jadeja and Ashwin bowled some good deliveries and troubled both Hameed and Root. Root managed to hit few boundaries to take some pressure off and he made sure England didn't lose another wicket before tea. England ended the session at 34/1.

India strangled England batting 

After tea, Indian bowlers were all over English players. Hameed was run-out trying to take the second run but Root denied, and a quick throw from debutant Jayant and a neat finish from Saha made sure Hameed didn't make it. He was given out directly by the leg umpire Rod Tucker. 

Ashwin didn't let England batsmen settle down, meanwhile Root completed his yet another Test fifty, he is already the highest run getter in tests this calendar year. 

Ashwin clean bowled a struggling Ben Duckett and soon after he sent Joe Root also in the pavilion, who, tried to hit the ball on the on-side but the ball didn't turn as expected and a leading edge took the ball in the air with Umesh Yadav completing the catch. 

England were reduced to 80/4. 

Soon after drinks, debutant Jayant Yadav got his first International Test wicket, in some style, Moeen Ali stepped down the pitch, but the ball hit the pads, an appeal was made but Kumar Dharmasena turned it down, Jayant was confident so he asked skipper Kohli to go for DRS. His confidence proved correct and he managed to pick his first intl' wicket with the help of DRS. Virat Kohli looked exuberant after the dismissal. 

It looked like India will pick a wicket in every over from then. But England managed to get through with the help of Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow.

Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow both remain not-out at 12. 

England finished the day at 103/5. 

So India will probably be raring to go on the pitch and finish England off tomorrow. The Indian team had been brilliant today and showed why they are the No.1 Test playing nation in the world. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

Debutant Jayant Yadav creates a unique record even before coming onto the pitch

Haryana's Jayant Yadav has been selected in the playing 11 for the second test match against England which  starts at Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy stadium in Vizag from 17th November.

He was presented the test cap by the former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri before the match. He will be the 286th player to play test cricket for India. 

By earning the cap Jayant Yadav has created a unique record. He joins the list of players who made their debut in ODI and Test Cricket on the same ground. 

It's notable that Jayant made his ODI debut in the final match of ODI Series against New Zealand in Vizag last month. He even picked up a wicket in that match. 

Jayant is brought in the team in the place of Amit Mishra. One reason for his inclusion in the side is that he is a handy with the bat and also England has few left handed batsmen so he will be beneficial. 

©sportskafun.blogspot.com

TEST 2 DAY 1 REVIEW- Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara helped India reach strong position

India won the toss and chose to bat but the decision took a dent in the first half-hour of the play

Early wickets for England in the morning session

People who woke up late today could not have witnessed the two openers on the crease, KL Rahul and Murali Vijay. 

Rahul brought in place of Gautam Gambhir was the first one to depart without troubling the scoreboard. He was out on a duck after edging a good delivery from Stuart Broad. Ben Stokes took the catch.

Murali Vijay hit a few fours showing his intent but James Anderson who was playing his first test since August, surprised Vijay with a well directed short ball which proved too much for him and he gave a catch to Ben Stokes. 

India were reduced to 22/2.

Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli needed to build a partnership to take India to a comfortable position. 

Both the batsmen were tested by some short balls at the start, but they handled it well, stabilising the innings,  taking their time, setting themselves in, taking singles and hitting boundaries. 

Gradually they managed to pull India back in the game. 

The two batsmen had a great understanding, but they were caught in conundrum in the 18th over of while completing a single. It was a chaotic situation. But, otherwise they had no issues whatsoever. 

India finished first session at 92/2. 

After lunch, Kohli and Pujara decided to have a go at the English bowlers. Both players dealt in boundaries, scored runs with a run rate of over 4. 

They completed their 50 respectively. 

Big Moment in the match

Virat Kohli was batting on 56. On Ben Stokes' delivery Kohli played a shot which went in the air to fine leg and Adil Rashid couldn't hold on to complete the catch. 

It was surely a big moment in the game as Virat Kohli didn't look back after this. 

Both batsmen scored runs at a similar pace and reached their 90s. 

India scored 118 runs in the 2nd session. 

Funny Moment in the match 

Pujara was batting on 97, he would have loved to finish his century before tea but a dog had other ideas. The dog came into the pitch running on the lush green outfield and ground staff was not able to take the hound off the ground. 

Even players from the both the teams enjoyed this light moment. 

And due to this incident tea was taken a bit earlier, even before the over was completed. 

Kohli and Pujara reached their Centuries

After tea, Pujara was first to reach his century, in Sehwag's style, by hitting a six off Adil Rashid. Pujara's 3rd test century in his third consecutive match.

Virat soon joined him completing his 15th Test century and his 7th as a skipper. 

Pujara and Kohli completed 200 run partnership, it was their second 200 run stand. 

Pujara was dismissed on 119 by James Anderson in a similar fashion like he was in the last test. He failed to make a big hundred again. Kohli and Pujara had a 226 run stand. 

Then came Ajinkya Rahane, who looked a bit under pressure. He tried hard though to gain confidence after putting away some bad deliveries. 

Their was also an lbw appeal against Kohli in the 80th over, umpire turned it down but England decided to review it. Umpire decision stood out and Virat Kohli stayed.

Virat Kohli meanwhile completed his 150 runs. It's his 3rd score of 150+ in this calendar year as a captain. 

New ball did the trick for England

England were in search of the 4th wicket, to take something away from today's play and new ball did it for them. 

It was the 89th over when England took the new ball, all Rahane had to do was to not lose his concentration but a slight lapse and he played a nothing shot, edged the ball to the slips and gifted his wicket to Anderson. 

Ashwin held on in the last over to complete India day's play on a high.

India finished the day at 317/4.

Kohli on 151* and Ashwin on 1*.

James Anderson was the pick of the bowlers with his 3 wickets. 

It will be interesting to see how England will respond in Day 2. 

'It is extremely special for us' - Faf du Plessis

Remember the time when it was almost impossible for any team to beat Australia, not just in Australia but also anywhere else in the world. Well, time has changed a lot since and South Africa's victory over Australia in the Hobart test delightfully approves it.

This is the third consecutive series win for South Africa against Australia. Australia, who were whitewashed (5-0) by the Proteas in the ODI series had no answers in Tests as well. Eight years ago in the captaincy of Graeme Smith, South Africa won the test series in Australia 2-1, four years later they won another 3 match test series 1-0. But now, the skipper Faf du Plessis has made it quite clear that they will not rest for anything less than a 3-0 complete whitewash.

Australia were bowled out for 161 and South Africa won the test by an innings and 80 runs.

Excerpts from his post match conference in which Du Plessis lauded his team's effort :-

"This team has been very close to exceptional. There haven't been many things we've done wrong. We have been very consistent in the way we perform. We are not relying on one or two players. All XI are putting our hands up at different times and that's what you want from your team."

"We came across here with a lot of confidence." South Africa dismissed Australia for just 85 runs in the first innings of the test. They exploited the weakness of the Australian team.

Vernon Philander celebrating with his teammates after picking up a wicket

"When you're a team that's under the pump and under pressure and not playing the way as well as you like, confidence will fade away. It's hard to fake it. We didn't give them the opportunity to do it. It was important to keep the important guys in the team quiet - David Warner and Steve Smith. If you can put a lot of pressure on them, younger guys won't have that same punch. We made sure those guys have been relatively quiet in the series. Even guys like [Mitchell] Starc, he bowled well in that one spell but if you're on top, that's when you get a five-for and you clean the tail up. We were just really good in making sure we stopped that."

Quinton de Kock during his century in 2nd test against Australia

South Africa cleaned up Australia's batting lineup on the fourth morning in just 95 minutes.

"I didn't expect it to happen that quickly. Yesterday our bowling was exceptional. The last hour and a half we were so good in our areas and relentless. We didn't get the results we wanted but we knew today if we came back, it would change for us. This is one of those sessions we will always remember as a team, that won us the series and it was unbelievable."

Faf du Plessis has made it very clear that this dominant South African team will not be complacent and will take everything all they can in this trip to Australia.

"This is the mission for us now. We want to do that very badly. We won't rest on our laurels and be happy with 2-0 or 2-1. We've got Australia in a position where they are under pressure and we don't want to let that go. It's hard enough to get them in this position so we will do everything we can to make it 3-0."

Scores 

Australia 1st Innings - 85/10 (32.5 Overs)

South Africa 1st Innings - 326/10 (100.1 Overs)

Australia 2nd Innings - 161/10 (60.1 Overs)

South Africa won by an innings and 80 runs.

The final test will be their first day-night test in Adelaide which starts on 24 Nov.



©sportskafun.blogspot.com