India captain Rohit Sharma will have added responsibility to carry the Indian batting order in the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam, also known as Vizag.
Not only India are trailing 1-0 in the 5-Test series, but the hosts will also be without the services of KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja, along with the already absent Virat Kohli, in the second Test match, starting on February 2 at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.
As usual, in the first Test in Hyderabad, Rohit Sharma got starts in both innings, but got out for scores of 24 and 39, failing to convert any of them into a big score. Had he managed a significant score in either of the innings, as the likes of Ben Stokes, KL Rahul, and Ravindra Jadeja did, India might have been able to avoid the ignominy of losing a home Test match, albeit by only 28 runs.
India now almost can’t afford to lose the second Test match, in Visakhapatnam (Vizag), because if they do, it would leave them needing a miraculous task to overcome a 0-2 deficit to win 3-2, something which has not happened in Test cricket since the 1936-37 Ashes.
For India to emerge victorious in Vizag, they will need their frontman, Rohit Sharma, to step up with the bat. Fortunately, for India and Rohit, the opener has some astounding numbers in Vizag.
There have only been two Test matches played in Visakhapatnam (Vizag) so far – vs England in 2016 and vs South Africa in 2019 – both of which India won by margins of more than 200 runs.
Rohit Sharma stats and record in Visakhapatnam (Vizag):
Rohit Sharma featured in the 2019 Test vs South Africa in Visakhapatnam (Vizag) and he recorded scores of 176 and 127, achieving the feat of being among the openers who hit twin centuries in a single Test match. Across his two innings, he walloped 33 fours and 13 sixes as India eventually won by 203 runs.
That was the comeback Test match for Rohit in Test cricket and he was opening for the first time in Test matches in his career. His success in Vizag in that game against the Proteas marked a new chapter in the career of Rohit Sharma.
