Did you hear that: Joe Root’s ‘desperation’, Ben Stokes targets DRS technology, Jasprit Bumrah’s ‘touch of genius’ and ‘relieved’ India

Day 4, Start of play: England are 67/1 and require 332 runs to win with Zak Crawley (29) and Rehan Ahmed (9) in the middle

1st session

Nasser Hussain on Zak Crawley: ‘India is the best place to bat at top of the order’

Jimmy Anderson had forewarned after Stumps on Sunday that even a target of 600 wasn’t big enough to keep England from chasing it, let alone 399. Crawley and Ahmed live up to Anderson’s claim, scoring at almost 4.5 runs per over. The former brings up his fifty.

Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports: “From where Crawley was a year ago – everyone calling for his head, and that he shouldn’t be in the Test side – look at how he played in the Ashes, look how he’s playing now. The reason he’s been so confident is that he’s playing in that attacking mindset England are asking of him. India is the best place to bat at the top of the order, it’s not reversing, it’s not spinning. He’s playing beautifully at the moment.”

Cricket – Second Test – India v England – Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, India – February 5, 2024 India’s Kuldeep Yadav appeals unsuccessfully before taking a DRS review for the lbw wicket of England’s Zak Crawley. (REUTERS/Francis Mascarenhas)

Alastair Cook: ‘Root is desperate to fit in with Bazball, struggles with tempo’

The spinners pave the way for India to steadily comeback. First, Axar Patel gets rid of Ahmed before Ravichandran Ashwin picks Ollie Pope and Joe Root in quick succession. Whilst Pope is sensationally caught at first slip by Rohit Sharma, Root’s dismissal – just 10 deliveries in – looks skittish. He is deceived by flight and yet goes ahead with a slog, only to be holed at short third off a thick edge.

“It was an ugly un-Root-like shot to end his innings,” notes Mike Atherton in his post-mortem for The Times. Another former England captain is more lucid and critical in his assessment of Ben Stokes’ predecessor.

Cook said on BBC TMS: “Joe Root is England’s best batsman in all formats but he does struggle sometimes with the tempo of this Bazball era. He sees people in this side playing aggressive shots, and that is their style, and he’s got 11,000 Test runs and he’s brilliant, but he is so desperate to fit in with what Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum are doing and sometimes he doesn’t get the balance right.”

Ben Stokes on Crawley’s DRS dismissal: ‘The technology got it wrong on this occasion’

Just when England think they couldn’t get any worse for them ahead of the lunch, Crawley is deemed LBW following a DRS by the Indians off Kuldeep Yadav’s delivery from over the wicket. Turning the ball back in from the middle stump, the chinaman induces a shout for leg-before but the on-field umpire shakes his head, mayhaps suggesting the ball is straying down the leg. But the hosts go upstairs again and the ball-tracker adjudges it was indeed hitting the leg stump. Stokes voices his opinion on the matter afterwards.

He says in a post-match press conference: “Technology in the game is obviously there. Everyone has an understanding of the reasons it can never be 100 per cent, which is why we have the umpire’s call. That’s why it’s in place. When it’s not 100 per cent as everyone says, I don’t think it’s unfair for someone to say ‘I think the technology has got it wrong on this occasion’.”

Lunch: Jasprit Bumrah flushing Jonny Bairstow plumb is the last piece of action from the opening session. India have reduced England to 194/6.

2nd session

Stokes on Bumrah: ‘Sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say, what a player!’

The Indian pace spearhead sees through the game for India, getting the better of Ben Foakes and then uprooting Tom Hartley’s off stump to seal the 106-run win. It was Bumrah’s six-wicket haul, his best figures in India, that gave the hosts a sizeable first-innings lead and it’s only fitting that the 30-year-old – now the leading wicket-taker in the series – caps off the win and is adjudged as player of the match. Even the opposition skipper isn’t reticent in his praise. “Jasprit is obviously on the opposing side but sometimes you just have to hold your hands up and say, what a player,” Stokes tells the broadcasters in his post-match address.

Rohit Sharma is one happy captain after #TeamIndia levelled the series 1⃣-1⃣ in Vizag! 👏 👏#INDvENG | @ImRo45 | @IDFCFIRSTBank pic.twitter.com/Ogf5yY1MaD

— BCCI (@BCCI) February 5, 2024

Nasser Hussain on Sky Sports: “Really, it was just the magic of Bumrah. He got a 3-fer today but that spell in the first innings blew away England for 250 on a really flat pitch. That bowl he bowled to Ollie Pope and that spell he bowled in the end was the difference for me. Sometimes you can be critical of your own team, sometimes you can go, ‘You know what, they were touched by a genius today’.”

Rohit Sharma in the post-match presentation: “Yeah, it is (a luxury to have Bumrah). I mean, look, he’s a champion player for us. It’s been a while, you know, that he’s doing the job for the team.”

Cook: ‘India will be relieved more than anything, they can definitely be beaten again’

The hosts level the series, by a much bigger margin than they lost by in Hyderabad. However, there are still three more Tests to come and the last English captain to win a Test series in India thinks if anything, the win in Vizag would have come as a relief for the hosts.

“India will be relieved more than anything. They were under the cosh after the first Test. This Indian side can definitely be beaten again. England have got close here without any hundreds. They’ll be disappointed,” says Cook on BBC TMS.

• IND vs ENG 2nd Test: How India tripped Bazball as it sprinted to the finish line
• IND vs ENG: Bumrah stops Bazball. For now.
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India coach Rahul Dravid is all praise for the visitors as well, stating there’s much more to them than just the slang Bazball.

“They are playing very well. Whether you call it Bazball or whatever. I’m not sure how happy they are about it, but they are playing really good cricket. They’ve shown good skills. It’s not like wild slogging. Some of the shots they are playing require a lot of skill and ability. There’s more to it than just attacking cricket.”

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