India v England: Key stats for second Test in Visakhapatnam
Second Test between India and England live on Sky Sports 2, Thursday
Monday 14 November 2016 18:15, UK
Ahead of the second Test between India and England, Sky Sports cricket statistician Richard Isaacs shines the spotlight on new Test venue, Visakhapatnam...
Following their excellent draw in Rajkot in the first Test, England head into another city of the unknown when the second Test gets underway in Visakhapatnam on the east coast of India on Thursday morning.
The ground with one of the longest venue names in Test history - the Dr. Yeduguri Sandinti Rajasekhara Reddy Andhra Cricket Association-Visakhapatnam District Cricket Association Stadium, Visakhapatnam - will not only host its first Test, but also play host to England for the first time too.
'Vizag', as it is more popularly known, will become the 24th new Test venue in India and the third in five weeks following Indore and Rajkot's introductions against New Zealand and England respectively.
The city, surrounded to the north and west by the beautiful Eastern Ghats hills and buffered by the Indian Ocean easing into the Bay of Bengal to its east, is no stranger to international cricket though.
From 1988 to 2001, the Indira Priyadarshini Stadium staged five one-day internationals, but was discontinued in favour of the ACA-VDCA Stadium in 2003, despite the capacity of the stadiums being roughly similar.
The move has certainly worked in India's favour, as they have played seven internationals at their new digs (six ODIs and one T20I) and won six of them, only going down to the West Indies by two wickets with three balls remaining in a 2013 ODI.
The ground moves its focus to Test cricket for the first time and it is fancied that the pitch is likely to take plenty of spin. However, there have been two Ranji Trophy Group B matches played on this ground since the start of October 2016 and the figures from those games definitely show something different.
The first game, between Orissa and Vidarbha, ended in a tame draw, with just 696 runs scored in 282.2 overs of play over four days - a snail's pace rate of 2.46 runs per over.
Assam met Rajasthan in the second of the games a week later and the visitors ran out victors by an innings and eight runs, but once again, the scoring rate barely broke the bank as 536 runs were scored in 210.1 overs, at 2.55 runs per over.
The most telling of the statistics from these games was that the seamers took 34 of the 49 wickets to fall, while the spinners collected only 15.
But, it shouldn't be forgotten that, despite only Amit Mishra and Ishant Sharma having played in a first-class game on this ground back in 2011 for North Zone, India have played regularly in one-day internationals and that's where their record stands up.
Especially Mishra, who has fond memories from his last appearance, ripping through New Zealand's batting order with 5-18 in six overs in the ODI staged at the ground only a couple of weeks ago.
His spin partners, Ravi's Ashwin and Ravi Jadeja also have decent records, with four wickets in three games for Ashwin and three in two for Jadeja. Ashwin's T20 record of 16 wickets in nine games at only 5.09 runs per over too shows he doesn't mind playing there.
And then there is Virat Kohli - who with four one-day international appearances at Vizag, has scored 399 runs, at an average of 99.75; innings of 118, 117, 99 and 65.
So there is plenty for England to think about ahead of the second Test - they will go into the match with a slight psychological edge after the events in Rajkot, but it will count for little when the first ball is bowled on Thursday at this newest of Test venues.
Live Test Cricket
Watch live coverage of the second Test between India and England in Vizag, on Sky Sports 2 from 3.30am on Thursday.
