Kevin Pietersen claims England are ahead in the game despite Yashasvi Jaiswal's 179* in Vizag Test

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen has said that England are on the ascendency after the first day’s play in the second Test in Visakhapatnam. India after winning the toss scored 336/6 in 93 overs.

The Men in Blue lost three wickets in the final session of play. Yashasvi Jaiswal was the standout batter for India who remained unbeaten on 179 with 17 fours and 5 sixes.

Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, debutant Rajat Patidar, Axar Patel, and KS Bharat got into double digits but were unable to convert their starts. Patidar, Axar, and Bharat fell in the final session of play pegging India back in the game in the process. All of them were soft dismissals with the wickets in the final session hurting India the most.

At one point with the partnerships going, India looked good to score beyond 450 but the England bowlers slowed the scoring rate in the final session by picking those three wickets. Jaiswal in his young career carried his bat on day 1 scoring his second Test ton.

Also Read: ‘Rahul Dravid, Rohit Sharma told me to convert…’ – Yashasvi Jaiswal eyeing double ton vs England

No Gremlin On The Pitch On Day 1: Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen after the end of the first day’s play was quick to analyze that it was England who was the happier of the two teams after day 1. Debutant Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed picked up two wickets each while Tom Hartley and vintage James Anderson picked up a wicket each. The England bowlers got their wickets by breaking key partnerships which made their efforts fruitful.

“One thing we know about England is when they come out to bat, they are going to attack, score quickly and score positively. They are not going to come in and bat the way India have batted today. I think that has put England ahead in the game”.

“I say that because there wasn’t any gremlin on the pitch on Day 1. The bounce was even and there wasn’t any crazy spin to make me feel that India should be more than 3 or 4 down,” Pietersen told Jio Cinema.

The former England skipper backed Ravichandran Ashwin to support Jaiswal when India resume on day 2. The southpaw is just 21 runs short of his maiden double ton. The longer he stays at the crease on day 2, the better are the chances for India to post a score close to 500. The Indian team is keen on batting just one knowing that the piitch will have its wear and tear in the due course of the game. It is important for Ashwin who threw his wicket away on the fourth day of the first Test to carry on with Jaiswal. He has five test hundreds to his name one of which came against England back in 2021 at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

“Somebody else should have got hungry for runs with Jaiswal, and then it could have been a completely different story. India will be hoping that Ashwin can try and be that guy that should have been one of the other batters,” Pietersen added.

India are trailing in the series 1-0 and hence need to win the second Test to bring parity in the series.

Also Read: IND vs ENG scorecard, 2nd Test, day 1 highlights: Yashasvi Jaiswal shines for India with 179; England picks 6 wickets