"England look slightly ahead" - Aakash Chopra on match situation after Day 1 of 2nd IND vs ENG Test
Aakash Chopra reckons England hold the edge over India after the first day of the second Test in Visakhapatnam on Friday, February 2.
India ended Day 1 at 336-6 after Rohit Sharma opted to bat first. Yashasvi Jaiswal (179*) and Ravichandran Ashwin (5*) are at the crease and will hope to take the hosts beyond the 400-run mark.
Reflecting on the day's proceedings in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra opined that India lost too many wickets on a flat surface (1:25):
"The Indian team won the toss, which is a very big job, and decided to bat with closed eyes. The pitch is actually very good, which is generally the case here. Big runs are scored here in the first innings. 450 to 550 runs is possible, and this is also that type of pitch."
"When you see from that perspective, the scales are not tilted towards India. To be fair, England look slightly ahead. Of course, they haven't batted yet, and they have to bat last but it wasn't a 336/6 pitch. It was a 336/3 or 336/2 pitch," the former India opener added.
Chopra recalled the 2019 Visakhapatnam Test against South Africa to substantiate his point. India posted 502-7 declared after opting to bat first, with openers Mayank Agarwal and Rohit Sharma scoring 215 and 176 respectively.
"Shoaib Bashir was fantastic" - Aakash Chopra on England's star performers
Aakash Chopra chose Shoaib Bashir (2-100) and Rehan Ahmed (2-61) as the star performers for England. Chopra said about the debutant off-spinner Bashir (4:15):
"Shoaib Bashir was fantastic. He was playing his first match and dismissed captain Rohit Sharma at the start.
"His specialty is high-arm action, gets very good bounce, and the consistency is not that bad. He got Axar Patel out because of that extra bounce. It was a wicket against the run of play."
The reputed commentator noted that Rehan also struck crucial blows despite being introduced late into the attack:
"Rehan Ahmed came late but did a very good job. It seemed like he wasn't going to be given the ball.
"We were saying that Ben Stokes had forgotten him, but when he got to bowl, he first dismissed Rajat Patidar and then (Srikar) Bharat. It wasn't a wicket-taking ball, but it was a huge setback for India."
Chopra also praised James Anderson for bowling a parsimonious spell, with the veteran seamer dismissing Shubman Gill and conceding only 30 runs in 17 overs.