The hitters’ performance in the first innings of the second Test match between India and England in Visakhapatnam did not impress head coach Rahul Dravid. The hosts were dismissed for 396 runs despite a masterful double century from young Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had no help from the other batsmen. Regarding the same, Dravid stated that he had expected the Rohit Sharma-led team to reach at least 450 runs in the opening inning, but they had left some runs on the field.
The 51-year-old also conveyed to the players in the locker room that there isn’t much time to learn Test cricket without mentioning any specific cricketer.
Interestingly, Shubman Gill scored 34 runs in the first inning, which is highly worrying because the players are used to the conditions. Axar Patel, Rajat Patidar, and Shreyas Iyer were among the players who had a strong start but were unable to convert; this may have enraged Dravid because it is now standard procedure for the Indian side.
“I think we left runs on the board once more in this situation. That could be due, in part, to the fact that there are a lot of young batters coming through who are, in my opinion, still getting to know Test cricket a little bit. But as you can imagine, you don’t have a lot of time to learn how to play Test cricket, according to Dravid.
To be very honest, I believe we should have scored a few more runs in either of the two innings. You know, I thought we could have scored more in both of these innings, especially in this first one, where I felt 396 was not good enough. You succeed in tossing. In these conditions, you should be pushing 450 or 475, and we have one man with a double-hundred,” he continued.
Gill scored a fantastic century in the second inning, but the batters were again unable to muster any momentum. India scored 255 runs, with Axar scoring 45 and Iyer and Ravichandran Ashwin both scoring 29. But Jasprit Bumrah and Ashwin’s skillful bowling helped India win the match by 106 runs.
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