India got off to a poor start on the second day of the first Test in Hyderabad against England with the half-centurion of the first day, Yashasvi Jaiswal getting out in the very first over on Friday, January 26. Jaiswal was unbeaten on 76 off 70 overnight and began well against the off-spinner Joe Root as he slammed a boundary to start off the day. However, Root, who didn't bowl a single over on the first day got the big wicket of Jaiswal, who was late into his shot while driving towards the off-side and ended up handing a simple catch to the bowler.
Jaiswal did well for his knock of 80 runs, however, would have liked to go on and get a big one. Many were surprised that England skipper Ben Stokes didn't hand Root the ball on the first day when Jaiswal was going after the left-arm spin duo of Tom Hartley and Jack Leach but rectified his mistake in the very first over on the second day and was rewarded.
Former England batter Kevin Pietersen was the one to predict that he could do the trick and his wish or prediction, whatever you may call came true. "Can Joe Root PLEASE bowl first up this morning! He WILL spin the ball!" Pietersen wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Former India leg-spinner Anil Kumble mentioned on the broadcast after the stumps on Day 1 that England missed a trick by not handing the ball to Kumble. "I thought England missed a trick by not using Joe Root because he's someone you can really turn the ball, and he has a good action. And there was Yashasvi Jaiswal, who is a left-hander, and we saw Ashwin trouble the left-handers. So England probably missed a trick," Kumble said on Sports18.
Apart from Jaiswal, England got the wicket of Shubman Gill as well in the first hour before KL Rahul, Shreyas Iyer and Ravindra Jadeja led India's batting effort in the first innings.
