India's Yashasvi Jaiswal celebrates after reaching his century on the opening day of their second Test against England in Visakhapatnam on Friday.
Credit: Reuters Photo
Visakhapatnam: Young Yashasvi Jaiswal gave a beautiful demonstration on how to play an inexperienced spin attack with a brilliantly-crafted century to the rest of his Indian batting colleagues who gifted their wickets on a platter to England on an engrossing opening day of the second Test here on Friday.
The 22-year-old talented Mumbaikar, fast-tracked into international cricket during the tour of the West Indies last July-August where he made an instant impression with a cracking 171 on debut, hammered a superb unbeaten 179 — his second Test century — to lead an error-prone India to 336/6 at stumps at the Dr YSR ACA-VDCA Stadium.
Unlike other India batters like skipper Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, debutant Rajat Patidar and wicketkeeper KS Bharat, who all got starts on a batting paradise but couldn’t convert them into something substantial, Jaiswal applied himself exceptionally from start to finish to literally carry the batting for a little under six and a half hours on his slender shoulders.
He saw out ageless pacer James Anderson and Joe Root, who opened the bowling together, and even swallowed his ego when left-arm spinner Tom Hartley was brought on as first change. There were a few boundaries here and there but, along with Rohit, he just played old-school cricket as India made a tepid start.
India lost Rohit against the run of play in the 18th over but by then Jaiswal had gotten a measure of the conditions and England’s inexperienced spin attack comprising Hartley and debutant offie Shoaib Bashir. He started to take both of them on after the opening hour, using his feet brilliantly against the duo.
Whenever the ball was pitched or tossed up, he was quick to dance down the track and smack it into the stands — a facet which the Indian batters of yore were famous for and the current generation, especially the ones who graduate quickly to international cricket without enough toil on the domestic circuit, lack. Such was Jaiswal’s courage, even when Stokes placed fielders in the deep, he confidently strode down and didn’t blink to take the aerial route.
Jaiswal was also superb square of the wicket, rocking back to play the cuts and pulls. And when the spinners flattened their lines and lengths, bowling a bit wide of the off-stump, Jaiswal just caressed them through the covers. He just didn’t allow the inexperienced Hartley and Bashir, in fact even the street-smart Joe Root, to settle into any sort of rhythm. And for Rehan Ahmed, he just treated him with utter disdain.
Having said that, it wasn’t just hitting from Jaiswal. He was smart about his shot selection, something which the out of sorts Gill and Iyer didn’t exhibit as they threw away their wickets after having done the early hard work of getting their eye in. In fact, even Rohit, Axar Patel and KS Bharat were guilty of the same. But Jaiswal batted with monk-like focus, barely committing any mistakes.
While wickets fell at regular intervals, most of them against the run of play much to England’s joy, Jaiswal just marched on like a solo warrior. He was unperturbed by the happenings at the other end and called the shots in every partnership he was involved in.
Another good aspect about Jaiswal’s batting on the day was his tendency to look for singles constantly. He mixed his boundaries by working the ball around for singles, showing the soft-handed batting that he also possesses. When his partners dabbed the ball around, he was off the crease in a flash to take a single. It’s an attribute former skipper Virat Kohli will be proud of.
Current captain Rohit will be hoping Jaiswal turns this century into a double, or a triple if possible, to take the game away from England.
SCORE BOARD INDIA Jaiswal (batting) 179 (257b 17x4 5x6) Rohit c Pope b Bashir 14 (41b) Gill c Foakes b Anderson 34 (46b 5x4) Iyer c Foakes b Hartley 27 (59b 3x4) Patidar b Rehan 32 (72b 3x4) Axar c Rehan b Bashir 27 (51b 4x4) Bharat c Bashir b Rehan 17 (23b 2x4 1x6) Ashwin (batting) 5 (10b 1x4) Extras (NB-1) 1 TOTAL (for 6 wkts 93 overs) 336 Fall of wickets: 1-40 (Rohit) 2-89 (Gill) 3-179 (Iyer) 4-249 (Patidar) 5-301 (Axar) 6-330 (Bharat). Bowling: Anderson 17-3-30-1 (nb-1) Root 14-0-71-0 Hartley 18-2-74-1 Bashir 28-0-100-2 Rehan 16-2-61-2.