On Monday, February 5, India defeated England by 106 runs in the second Test at Visakhapatnam, leveling the five-match series. It was crucial for India to get back to even in the series after losing the opening Test by 28 runs, as a 0–2 disadvantage could have been very challenging to overcome.
Two outstanding individual efforts, according to India’s head coach, Rahul Dravid, kept the hosts in the match for the opening few days. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his first double century in the opening over, and Jasprit Bumrah then had a six-for. Afterwards, Shubman Gill disproved his naysayers and returned to form with a tenacious century in India’s second innings.
At the Monday press conference following the game, Rahul Dravid stated, “We were under pressure at various points, but I think a couple of individual brilliances kept us in the game in the first couple of days.”
“Yashasvi’s outstanding 209 in the opening inning. Then, Bumrah’s spell actually kept us ahead by 140 [runs] for the first two days. To cross the finish line, we then needed to put on a little bit more of a team effort on days three and four. That being said, I’m happy with the outcome considering that we lost the last Test match and lost a few players. We’re glad we were able to recover, but we also know the following three games will provide some intense cricket in an amazing series.”
Rahul Dravid observed that despite securing a commanding 143-run lead in the first innings, India was unable to control the game as they consistently lost wickets, with the exception of a few strong partnerships.
“I don’t believe there was ever a point in the match where we thought we could really push the play. We lost a few wickets just when we were beginning to believe that our 80-run stand with Iyer and Gill would force the play. After we were comfortable, we formed another alliance. We were, I believe, 210 for 4, and you just start getting comfy and then you lose a couple of wickets and you’re thinking, ‘oh,’ if we had gone to lunch at 250 for 4 instead of 230 for 6. Therefore, I don’t think we were ever in a position to consider applying pressure to the opposition again throughout this game,” Rahul Dravid stated.
“I believe that forcing the play was not the only thing we did after losing the first few wickets. We really soaked up the pressure to establish that partnership, but we weren’t able to take full advantage of it.” Then, when we acquired another 80-partnership [between Gill and Axar Patel], the same thing took place. He continued, “I’m sure we would have approached it differently if we had made that 120 or 130.
To be honest, I believe we should have scored a few more runs in either of the two innings. Rahul Dravid
India should have scored more runs than they did in each of the two innings of the Vizag Test, according to Dravid. He claimed that his team should have been able to get a score of 450 or 475 after Yashasvi achieved a double ton in the opening inning, but they were only able to reach 396. Dravid believed that the younger batters would gain knowledge from their experiences and be better able to decide when to attack or defend, nevertheless.
“You’re going to have to accept a few errors if you want people to play somewhat intentionally and constructively. People might occasionally be unable to convert some of the starts, but for us and for me, it really just comes down to reading the game and the circumstances around it. In my opinion, the key is realizing when to apply pressure and when to back off. Instead of going all out, are we acknowledging that we need to absorb the pressure for a little while and perhaps exercise some caution?” Rahul Dravid.
“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. However, you know, you don’t have much time to learn how to play Test cricket. 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. The former captain of India remarked, “We have one guy with a double-hundred; you should be pushing 450, 475 in these conditions.”
The 51-year-old further asserted that the players play to the surface they are faced with and that the Indian team management does not demand rank-turners.
Curators are in charge of pitching. We make no requests for rank-turners. I’m not an expert, so you know, but it’s obvious that tracks in India will spin—how much or how little, you know. I occasionally hear that instead of turning on the third day, they turn on the first. I’ve occasionally been informed that they turn on day two and stay that way until day four. You know, there are moments when I have no idea what I’m doing. We go to Rajkot, we’ll see what we get, and we play with whatever is in front of us while we look at the wicket and try to do the best we can with what we have,” Rahul Dravid said.
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