Vizag Test: England need record chase to halt India’s 12-year-old record in home Test
India handed England a massive target in the Vizag Test match on Sunday, 4 February.
Guided by Shubman Gill’s gritty century India helped themselves to a lead of 398 runs in Vizag before getting bowled out for 255 runs in the final session of Day 3.
England will need to put in a massive effort in the final innings of the game if they want to win the Test match and take a 2-0 lead against the hosts. This will be a record if England are able to chase the target of 399 runs in the final two days of the Test match.
Highest Chase in Indian Soil
The highest-ever successful chase in the Indian soil is 387 runs when the hosts defeated England in Chennai back in 2008. Only 5 times in the history of Test cricket has a score of 250+ been chased on Indian soil. 4 times out of those 5, the hosts have successfully chased down the target. West Indies are the only team to chase down 250+ target in India, and that came in 1987.
England will shatter another record if they are able to defeat India in the Vizag Test match. India have not lost back to back Test matches at home since 2012. The last time that India did lose back to back Tests was against Alastair Cook’s England who are also the last team to defeat India in India. In that series, England started with a loss and then went onto hand a famous series defeat to the hosts.
In the previous Test match, England had set a 231-run target for the Indian team, which the hosts failed to chase down in a slow turner at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. In the ongoing Test match, England have a Herculean task ahead of them, but it needs to be noted that the Vizag track has barely any signs of assisting a lot of spin.
The pitch however has exhibited variable bounce and has put several batters in trouble. England started well against India in the second innings of the game and were able to put up 67 for the loss of 1 wicket at the end of Day 3. Zak Crawley and Rehan Ahmed remained not out at stumps, with Ben Duckett being the lone man to fall.