Rohit Sharma's career-defining match and a trouncing of England: A look at India's Test record in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam is a relatively new venue in international cricket, particularly for Test matches.

The Dr. YS Rajashekar Reddy ACA–VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam is the venue for the second Test between India and England. The match starts on Friday and India are looking to bounce back after suffering a rather stunning defeat in the first Test in Hyderabad. India had taken a 190-run lead in the first innings and reduced England to a score of 163/5 in their second, with their senior batters Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes all back in the hut without troubling the scorers too much.

Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal made merry the last time India played a Test match in Visakhapatnam (BCCI)

However, Ollie Pope led an incredible rearguard act from England, scoring 196 himself and the visitors set a target of 231 for India to chase. Debutant spinner Tom Hartley, who had a forgettable outing in India's first innings, ended up running through the hosts' batting lineup and finished with figures of 7/62. England ended up winning the match by 28 runs after being on the cusp of an innings defeat at one point. The result sets up a tantalising contest for the rest of the series with India for once being challenged at home.

The YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium is a relatively new venue in Indian cricket, particularly with regards to Test matches. It has hosted 10 ODIs since 2005 and four T20Is since 2016 but just two Test matches thus far.

Past Tests in Visakhapatnam

One of the two matches that have been played at the stadium was against Englang. That was the first-ever Test matches played in Visakhapatnam from November 17 to 21 in 2016. India captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bat first. They got off to a shaky start with openers Murali Vijay and KL Rahul being dismissed in the first five overs but centuries from Kohli (167) and Cheteshwar Pujara (119) and a half-century from Ravichandran Ashwin (58) helped India post a score of 455. Ashwin then took a five-wicket haul as England were bowled out for 255 and India ended up setting a target of 405 for the visitors to chase in their second innings. Ashwin and Jayant Yadav took three wickets each while Ravindra Jadeja and Mohammed Shami picked two as England were bowled out for 158 and India won the match by 246 runs.

The second match came in 2019 and it marked a career-defining shift of roles for India's current captain. Rohit Sharma had famously been unable to replicate his incredible success in limited overs cricket to the longest format until then, when India decided to finally use him as an opener - the role that made him one of the best in the world in the shorter formats. Rohit made an immediate impact, to say the least, in what was the first match of the series against South Africa. He shared a mammoth 317-run opening stand with Mayank Agarwal, scoring 176 off just 244 balls. Agarwal, meanwhile scored 215 in 371 and this let India declare on a score of 502/7. South Africa made a strong reply with Dean Elgar (160) and Quinton de Kock (111) scoring centuries and captain Faf du Plessis making 55. They were all out for 431 with Ashwin taking seven wickets. In the Indian second innings, Rohit became the first player to score two centuries in his first Test as an opener. He smashed 127 in 149 balls as India declared on a score of 323/4, thus setting a target of 395 for South Africa. The Proteas were all out for 191 with Shami taking five wickets and Jadeja taking four and India won by 203 runs.