In a stellar demonstration of Indian batsmanship for the coming decade, Yashasvi Jaiswal scored an extraordinary 161 in the second innings of India against Australia, leading India to a 295-run victory in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Optus Stadium, Perth, taking a lead of 1-0 in the five-match series.
This 22-year-old bashed and slashed for 432 minutes, audaciously upper-cutting Josh Hazlewood for six over deep fine-leg to bring up his fourth test hundred. The match was going on first Down under.
Australia all-rounder Glenn Maxwell spoke fondly of Yashasvi’s ability to have minimal weaknesses while adapting quickly to varying conditions during a recent podcast, saying that the opener will score above 40 Test tons for India, rewriting many records.
“He is (Jaiswal) a guy that will probably score more than 40 Test hundreds, and write some different records. He has a fantastic ability to adjust with very different conditions,” Maxwell said on ‘The Grade Cricketer’ podcast.
Considered one of the richest promises in Indian cricket, the 22-year-old has flown to his fab start in Test cricket. He made a special place in the squad through one exceptional game against England recently.
His knock in Perth was his fourth century in just 15 Tests. Each of those centuries has been converted into a score of 150 or more by the left-hander. Jaiswal has so far gathered 1,568 runs, averaging a mammoth 58.07, and the best proof of his quality was the way he rebounded from a duck in the first innings of Perth.
“You know, he would have played a lot of shots that would be part of the highlights package, but the stuff he did in-between… the ones he left, the ones he got in behind… his foot movement is pretty crisp; doesn’t appear to have that many weaknesses. Plays the short ball well, drives nicely, unbelievable against spin and can soak up pressure for stints.”
“It’s going to be scary if Australia doesn’t find a way to stop him in the next couple of matches.”
Write-up by Chappell in his column at The Sydney Morning Herald, where he expressed that “the young opener is fearless and seems busy gearing up for the position of Indiana batting greatness after Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar.”
