Yashasvi Jaiswal’s ebullient 179* props up faltering India

Axar Patel, elevated to No. 6, and KS Bharat though were guilty of squandering starts, each cutting the spinner to backward point towards the end leaving England the slightly more happier camp at the end of Day 1 in Visakhapatnam, despite Yashasvi Jaiswal’s marathon innings.

Fresh off an ebullient 80 in Hyderabad, Jaiswal is holding fort for India in the first innings of the second Test. He upped the ante after a tight chance was put down at slip by Joe Root and proceeded to hit three boundaries in a row to gallop into the nineties. Soon after he attained his first Test hundred on home soil, India lost their third wicket when Iyer got an underedge that was pouched safely by Ben Foakes, giving Tom Hartley his first wicket.

Earlier, England had managed to keep India in check despite the batters getting off to starts with alliances worth 40, 49 and 90 being curtailed with regular strikes. Having looked right at home during his 32, debutant Rajat Patidar was a trifle unfortunate to have spliced a forward defence back onto the stumps after some extra bounce had him defending awkwardly.