Yashasvi Jaiswal in action against West Indies.© AFP
Yashasvi Jaiswal was always earmarked for big things. Since his u-19 days, Jaiswal composure and talent made him stand out from his peers. He gave enough proof of his talent in domestic cricket and the IPL for him to be selected for the Test series against West Indies. And the 21-year-old took only one innings to prove that the faith shown in him by the team management was not unfounded. Opening the innings in the first Test in Dominica, Jaiswal slammed his maiden ton in 215 balls.
At 21 years, 197 days Jaiswal is the fourth youngest debutant Test centurion for India. He is also the third Indian opener after Prithvi Shaw and Shikhar Dhawan to slam a ton on debut. Also, he and fellow opener Rohit Sharma broke the record of the highest opening stand by an Indian pair against West Indies when their stand went past the score of 201. Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Bangar had scored 201 in a Test in Mumbai in 2002, according to news agency PTI.
Milestone Alert
up & going strong @ImRo45 and @ybj_19 now hold the record of the highest opening partnership for India against West Indies in Tests
Follow the match https://t.co/FWI05P4Bnd#TeamIndia | #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/16Ok0G8ZpV
— BCCI (@BCCI) July 13, 2023
After 41 long years, since India’s 1982 tour of England where Suru Nayak and Sunil Gavaskar opened, there were two Mumbai men opening for the country and put up the best ever stand of 229 against the West Indies, beating previous best of 201 set by Sanjay Bangar and Virender Sehwag back in 2001.
Jaiswal became the third Indian opener after Shikhar Dhawan (vs Australia in 2013) and Prithvi Shaw (vs West Indies 2018) to score a hundred on Test debut. It was old fashioned Test match batting where two quality batters literally groundout a tired bowling attack that didn’t have much firepower to trouble the duo. Jaiswal’s maiden ton came off 215 balls while Rohit took 220 balls as there was no purchase on the track but slowness did make stroke-making difficult.
It was not an easy proposition for batters like Rohit and Jaiswal, who love hitting through the line as the Windsor Park pitch got even slower on the day with most of the deliveries stopping and coming onto the bat. The ball was gripping off the surface and till the giant Rahkeem Cornwall (0/22 in 11 overs) was bowling his off-breaks, scoring wasn’t easy but once he developed a niggle, the little sting that was there in West Indies’ bowling also vanished in thin air. The Indians scored 66 in the first session but scored 99 runs in the second.
With PTI inputs
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