Yashasvi Jaiswal dominated the first day of India-West Indies second test. He played a steady inning of 173 not out off 253 balls. This was the 7th Test century of 23 year old Jaiswal, which further strengthened his place in the team.
India – West Indies 2nd Test, Day 1.
The stadium of Delhi’s Firoz Shah Kotla was not completely full, many chairs were empty. The impact of Virat Kohli’s retirement was still being felt on the field. There were less people, but the slogans of ‘Kohli…Kohli…’ were continuously echoing, after all how can anyone forget them. Suddenly these voices slowed down and a new name started echoing. That was the name of the player who batted for hours with excellent control over the West Indies bowlers – Jaiswal…Jaiswal…Yashaswi Jaiswal.
To know how tight Jaiswal’s innings was on the Delhi pitch, one has to look at the number of extra runs on the scoreboard. The West Indies bowlers bowled with great accuracy without conceding a single extra run on the first day. 175 runs in 258 balls. This was an innings that further cemented Jaiswal’s place in Indian cricket. This one day brought the Delhi audience out of the sorrow of Kohli and Rohit’s departure.
Jaiswal set foot on the crease with great patience in the first hour of bowling by Jaden Seales, Anderson Phillip and Justin Greaves. He had come to Ahmedabad with the sole intention of removing the pain of sitting outside and watching his teammates score big scores. The lowest percentage of false shots was seen in the first hour in this series. This shows how excellent the control of Jaiswal and Rahul was. In the first session, Jaiswal had scored 40 runs on 78 balls.
The specialty of Jaiswal’s batting is not just his range of shots, but he is a naturally aggressive batsman. It is not easy for such players to survive in Test cricket, especially when considering the length of the format. It is here that the initial steps of this 23 year old player have surprised the cricket world. The second session of Jaiswal, who won Test cricket with his natural game, was a classic. He started the session by hitting two consecutive fours against Seals.
As the session progressed, Jaiswal’s false shot percentage decreased and the number of attacking shots increased. The presence of these two together shows how much the innings was under control. When Jaiswal reached the score of 90, the West Indies bowlers tried to tempt him. He was instigated to play drive. Jaiswal was tested with half-volley and short ball. But, he did not try for the boundary even once. He completed his century in the 51st over on the ball of Khary Pierre. This was the seventh century of his Test career.
There are only three players in the history of one and a half century who have scored more than 7 Test centuries before the age of 24 – Bradman, Sachin and Sobers. At the end of the second session, Jaiswal’s score was 111 runs in 162 balls. In this session he scored 71 runs on 84 balls. But, in the third session, when the West Indies bowlers bowled with the same accuracy as in the first session, Jaiswal’s bat showed respect. He reduced the attacking shots and slowly reached the score of 150. This was the fifth time in his career that he reached the score of 150.
He also expressed confidence in his favorite cut shots in Delhi. Jaiswal’s art of playing the ball late earned him six fours. At the end of the first day’s play, he was at the crease after scoring 173 runs in 253 balls. At that time India’s scoreboard was showing 318 runs.
Jaiswal is only 23 years old. Cricket pundits say that he still has a lot more left in him. This is the era when the young generation likes to play risky shots, but Jaiswal made his innings in Delhi without any such shot. Especially against the spinners, he did not make any attempt to play sweep shots. Started his career with a century against the West Indies, two double centuries against England, stood firm even when big giants failed in Australia, and repeated the same in England. Jaiswal, a wonder boy.