A 22-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal made the day of the Indian fans present at the Visakhapatnam on Friday (February 2). After a tentative start, he got into his elements superbly smashing an unbeaten 179 runs by the end of day's play in the second Test against England. However, with no other batter sticking around with him, the visitors kept coming back not allowing India to run away with the game as the hosts ended the day at 336/6 after 93 overs.
The left-hander slammed 17 fours and five sixes during his stay in the middle and will be aiming to smash his maiden double-century on the second morning. He opened up on his marathon knock after the end of day's play and provided insights on his thinking and also the pitch. "I wanted to play it session by session. When they were bowling well, I just wanted to get through that spell. Initially, the wicket was damp and there was spin and bounce, with a bit of seam. However, I wanted to convert the loose balls, and play till the end. I would love to double this up, and play till the end for the team. I want to recover well for tomorrow now," he said.
As far as the pitch is concerned, the youngster stated that it was damp to start with and for the same reason, he and Rohit Sharma played cautiously upfront. He also delved into the details of the surface saying that there is some bounce in it for the old ball. "The pitch played a bit differently, in the morning it was a bit damp and then it settled. With the older ball, there was some bounce. Rahul sir and Rohit bhai kept giving me the confidence and told me to convert this into a big innings, and stay till the end," Jaiswal added further.
Meanwhile, Jaiswal will have a massive role to play on the second day as well as India will be looking to post a mammoth total on the board. Ravichandran Ashwin is batting with him at the moment and the hosts will be aiming at least 450 runs in the first innings as the pitch is looking extremely flat at the moment.
