What happened the last time India played a Test match in Vizag? 

In what was an exhilarating affair of Test cricket, England defeated India by 28 runs to draw first blood in the five-match Test series. The opening Test, which was played in Hyderabad, saw some commendable performances by English players, who recorded a come-from-behind victory.

The hosts were far ahead in the game, as they took a lead of 190 runs after the first innings. In their second innings, the English batters put up a great fightback, led by Ollie Pope's 196.

Despite setting a competitive target of 231 runs with Pope's superb knock, India were still the favourites because of their first-inning batting performance.

To the surprise of many Indian fans, the English bowling attack completely changed their approach and bundled India out for just 202 runs.

The caravan now moves to the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam. Situated in the south-east coastal region of the country, the pitch in Vizag is generally decent for batting but also aids slow bowlers.

It'll be interesting to see how India respond in the second Test of the series as they are now winless in their last three home Test matches.

However, the hosts will take confidence from the fact that they have a 100 percent track record in Vizag, having won both Test matches at the venue.

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India won their last Test in Vizag by 203 runs vs South Africa

Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal scored the third-highest opening partnership for India

The last time hosted a Test match at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Ground was in October, 2019. It was the first of the three Test matches played between India and South Africa.

After winning the toss, Virat Kohli decided to bat first. It proved to be a wonderful decision for the hosts, as the two openers, Rohit Sharma and Mayank Agarwal, completely ruled the roost.

They stitched together a huge partnership of 317 runs for the first wicket. Both Rohit and Agarwal hit 23 fours and six maximums.

While Rohit got out after scoring 176, Mayank smashed his maiden Test double century and belted 215 runs. Their fabulous opening partnership put the South African bowlers on the back foot as India went on to pile up 502/7 in their first innings.

South Africa, meanwhile, showed great application with the batting as well. Dean Elgar played a dogged knock of 160 runs and stitched important partnerships with Faf du Plessis (55) and Quinton de Kock (111).

Ravichandran Ashwin was the star of show for India, bagging 7/145 in 46.2 overs. After taking a first-innings lead of 71 runs, India batted slightly at a faster pace in their second innings.

Rohit Sharma smashed another century and helped India take their lead to 394.

With a fourth-innings target of 395, the visitors completely crumbled. They fell flat and lost eight wickets with just 70 runs on the board before getting all-out at 191. Mohammed Shami took a five-wicket haul.

For his twin centuries in the match, current India captain Rohit was deservingly adjudged as the Player of the Match.