India vs England 2016: Sunil Gavaskar praises debutant Jayant Yadav

A day after Sunil Gavaskar hit out at the exclusion of Amit Mishra, he was all praise for Mishra's replacement Jayant Yadav, who had an excellent time on his first day in the field.

Yadav started off his Test career with a gritty 35 off 84 balls in the company of Ravichandran Ashwin. Yadav's batting took India past the 400 mark and set up a mammoth first innings score. Yadav, who has been pushed up to no.4 in Haryana's line up in the Ranji Trophy already has a double hundred to his name in First-class cricket.

Yadav then put in a spirited bit of fielding in the outfield, running out England's newbie opener, Haseeb Hameed. A quick chase and well-directed throw from Yadav combined with some Dhoni-esque stumping by Wriddhiman Saha ensured Hameed did not have a long stay in the crease like in Rajkot.

"I think it was an outstanding bit of fielding there by Jayant. The way he did a sliding stop such that he would get the ball in his throwing hand and then throwing it on the jump when off-balanced. When you are off-balanced you do not get the power or accuracy normally, but he managed to get both. The throw came pretty close to the stumps and a fantastic effort there by Saha to backhand the ball onto the stumps", Gavaskar told NDTV after the second day of the Test at Visakhapatnam.

Gavaskar also praised the ground fielding of the Indians and said that it had improved by leaps and bounds. He had earlier been critical of their slip catching after India dropped three chances in the first session in Rajkot. He was, however, impressed with the ground fielding and mentioned that if they improve their slip catching, the overall level of fielding can go up a level.

Jayant also impressed with the ball, capturing Moeen Ali plumb in just his second over. He bowled tight lines and gave just 11 runs away in seven overs, ensuring the noose was tightened around the England batsmen.

"He has got a nice easy run-up and action, he jumps high, he puts a lot of revolutions on the ball, has a nice follow through. Everything looks right for him, he has got a wicket under his belt and will sleep a lot better today having contributed in all departments of the game. When you do that in your first Test, you tend to believe that you belong in the team, and he certainly belongs there," the former opening batsman concluded.

Apart from Yadav, Gavaskar also reacted to Shami cleaning up Alastair Cook for 2 earlier in the day. He mentioned that the commentary box had a "wow moment" seeing the stumps of the English captain broken in two by Shami.

He was also impressed by how Shami set up Cook by consistently moving the ball away before bringing one back in to shatter his defences.