NEW DELHI: After India managed to level the current series against England in Visakhapatnam, former pace spearhead Zaheer Khan expressed doubts about the host country's batting.
With the exception of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, India's batters had difficulty on a surface that ended up helping them.
Jaiswal was the only player to score a remarkable 209 throughout the first two days when the ball didn't spin and came to bat rather nicely.
Shubman took on the challenge of hitting for his third Test century when the pitch began to play tricks on the batsmen.
1/10:2nd Test: India beat England to level series
Reuters
2/10:Jasprit Bumrah
<p>Fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah took a match haul of nine wickets to lead India's 106-run win over England in the second Test on Monday and level the five-match series. </p>Reuters
3/10:Zak Crawley
<p>Chasing a record 399 for victory, England were bowled for 292 in the second session on day four in Visakhapatnam, despite an attacking start and Zak Crawley's 73. </p>Getty Images
4/10:3 wickets each
<p>Bumrah and spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took three each in the final innings and the pace spearhead bowled Tom Hartley to complete the win. </p>IANS
5/10:Shubman Gill
<p>Shubman Gill set up the comeback victory for India with his 104 on day three to set England, who won the opener, a daunting target. </p>IANS
6/10:Bazball
<p>England came out swinging with their "Bazball" brand of cricket, Crawley and company hitting boundaries despite losing wickets. </p>AFP
7/10:Axar Patel
<p>Left-arm spinner Axar Patel broke through when he trapped Rehan Ahmed lbw for 23, after the nightwatchman hit five fours in his 31-ball knock. </p>ANI
8/10:Ravichandran Ashwin
<p>Ollie Pope hammered five boundaries in his brief stay at the wicket, before Ashwin had him caught at slip by captain Rohit Sharma on 23. </p>ANI
9/10:Joe Root
<p>Joe Root fell for 16 while attempting a slog off Ashwin, who remains one away from entering the 500-wicket club. </p>PTI
10/10:Kuldeep Yadav
<p>The chase soon lost steam with two wickets in five balls before lunch, including Crawley out lbw off left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav. </p>PTIIn a conversation on 'Match Centre Live', at the end of the 2nd Test against England in Visakhapatnam on Monday, Zaheer Khan, analysed India's batting performance.
"If you are one down in the series, you need that aggression, fight and belief to make sure that it is 1-1 after the end of the game. And I think Rohit was able to bring out those individual performances from the players. There are a few concerns when you look at the team - batting is something that they will be talking about because under these conditions, on this sort of a surface, we have seen India do better. You look at England's second innings, there is only one half-century and they still managed to get close to 300. That is what collective effort can do. We have seen two brilliant innings - Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill, but with the bat, there is a lot of work to be done," Zaheer said.
In the bowling department, the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah rose on the occasion and produced phenomenal spells with the ball.
Zaheer praised Rohit's role as a captain in India' success with the ball and said, "On the bowling front as well, you had the brilliance of Jasprit Bumrah. On this kind of surface, you feel that your spinners were at times under pressure, and because of that they needed the help from the batters. So, to control all these factors - this is where the captain needs to come into play, and Rohit has been superb when it comes to all these factors and situations."
The third Test of the series starts on February 15 in Rajkot.
1/10:India vs England: Bumrah, Bazball and spin
ANI
2/10:India level series with thumping win
<p>India beat England by 106 runs in the second Test in Visakhapatnam on Monday to level the five-match series 1-1.</p>AFP
3/10:'Bazball' is winning fans in India
Ben Stokes's team took a thrilling opening Test by 28 runs after overcoming a 190-run first innings deficit then went down guns blazing in a record 399-run chase in the second.PTI
4/10:Bumrah's perfect yorker
<p>Stumps flew all over the place as Bumrah bowled Ollie Pope with a trademark yorker in the second Test.</p>PTI
5/10:Jasprit Bumrah masterclass
<p>Jasprit Bumrah's mastery of new ball and reverse swing saw him take a first innings 6/45 as England were all out 253, a deficit of 143. </p>Reuters
6/10:Bumrah - an absolute champion of a bowler
<p>Stokes paid tribute after Bumrah bagged three more in England's chase to be named man of the match. "Jasprit Bumrah's an absolute champion of a bowler," said Stokes.</p>AFP
7/10:Ollie Pope special
Ollie Pope's masterful 196 in Hyderabad featured sweep shots of both orthodox and reverse varieties to blunt the Indian spinners and the crowd rose to applaud as England inflicted only the fourth home defeat on India in 47 Tests.PTI
8/10:Nervy moments for India
India had some nervy moments in winning the second Test as England came out roaring in their fourth-inning chase, with Zak Crawley hitting 73 and almost all the batsmen taking on the bowlers.AFP
9/10:England spinners challenged India batters
<p>England's rookie spinners Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir and Rehan Ahmed may have only six Test caps between them but they have all challenged India's batters, who are usually masters on turning pitches.</p>PTI
10/10:Tom Hartley on a roll
<p>Raw left-armer Hartley had match-winning figures of 7-62 on debut in Hyderabad and he took four more in India's second innings in Visakhapatnam. His 14 wickets are just one behind Jasprit Bumrah in the series bowling charts.</p>PTI(With ANI inputs)
