London, Aug 2 (IANS) India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal’s childhood coach Jwala Singh expressed confidence that his ward will convert his fifty in to a century on Day 3 of the ongoing fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against England. 

During India’s second innings, when the hosts got rid of KL Rahul and Sai Sudharsan cheaply, Jaiswal’s unbeaten 51 and nightwatchman Akash Deep (4*) saw off England’s attack before stumps even as they dropped Jaiswal when he was on 41. India ended Day 2 of The Oval Test with a 52-run lead.

“I’m happy for Yashasvi because he has been consistently scoring runs. Although he has shown a bit of inconsistency at times, he’s currently batting with a score above 50. I hope he can convert this into a big score tomorrow — maybe even a century. Let’s see what happens,” Singh told IANS.

Jaiswal has had a mixed performance in the series so far. He started strongly with a century in the opening Test at Leeds, followed by scores of 87 and 28 in the subsequent matches. However, he struggled in the Lord’s Test, failing to make an impact. He bounced back somewhat with 58 in the Manchester Test.

After bowling India for 224 in the first innings, England openers Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley threatened to take the game away, but Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna staged India’s comeback into the game, restricting England’s lead to just 23 runs by bowling them out for 247.

Reflecting on the two days’ play in London, Singh said, “The first two days (of the fifth test) have reflected typical English weather. When we were all out, it seemed like England would do much better. But the way our bowlers managed to bowl them out within a day without letting them build a big lead is a positive sign.”

“Now, India have started their second innings and has scored over 70 runs for the loss of two wickets. I believe, India should aim to post a big total — around 300 runs. If we can achieve that, we definitely have a good chance of winning this Test match.”

Singh concluded by saying, “The pressure is mostly on England, especially in the absence of their regular captain, Ben Stokes. There is still plenty of time left in this Test match, and there’s a good chance of getting a result despite the rain. I think if our batsmen play well, India can win this Test match.”

–IANS

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