James Anderson ran in, with all of his body focused on throwing the ball right into the blockhole but Yashasvi Jaiswal is a telepath, he picked up the ball before it could land and swept it to the fine leg. It was a heavenly shot. A Masterpiece worthy of being hanged at the Louvre.
But anyway, sixes in Test cricket are no longer an anomaly, are they? Clearing his mind, came the 41-year-old pacer again, this time he decided to go fuller, a little wide of the off stump – but was faced by the prodigy’s wrath again, who danced down the track to hammer it over extra cover with as much disdain as he could gather.
The Rajkot crowd was ducking for covers. Jaiswal, however, did not seem eager to stop. Making his mind to get the last laugh, Anderson charged in once more, pulled the length back slightly, and pitched it on nearly the same line, only to get greeted with another maximum, this time right over his head. It was three in three now.
It is the stuff that would make the headline of a newspaper. So is the story of the 22-year-old opener, who thwacked English bowlers in Rajkot like he had a personal agenda against them. Only Wasim Akram has as many sixes in an innings as he hit against the Three Lions in the second innings of the recently concluded Test match.
This, by no means, is the only record this young sensation has either broken or equalled during India’s third Test fixture against Bazball-influenced England, there were records galore for him, testifying to the special talent he possesses.
Two-double hundreds for Yashasvi Jaiswal:
The Uttar Pradesh-born turned 22 years old in December last year but has reached milestones that many older than him have not. In his 7-match Test career, he has already notched up two double tons, which shine brightly among his stats. This does not end here. Both of his double centuries come in consecutive matches, making him one of the handful of players with this feather in their caps.
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The fact that only Vinod Kambli and Don Bradman have achieved this feat at a younger age speaks volumes of Jaiswal’s forte. His latest double hundred in Rajkot was special, nevertheless. Not many players start firing the way he did after leaving the ground to tend to a back spasm just the previous day. But he is built differently as he went on to add 110 runs at a strike rate of nearly 107 the next day when he came back after Shubman Gill fell.
You can debate all about the double hundred coming on a flat track which was a run-fest for both the teams but the left-hander already answered these critics with his Vizag double ton in the previous match where the surface was not as welcoming. His second Test knock also proves why the Southpaw is not just a slogger but someone who is gifted in sewing innings to provide solid protection to his team.
Converting his 100s to greater scores
Since his debut, Yashasvi Jaiswal has crossed the triple-figure thrice, and on all three instances, he has successfully converted his hundreds to a score of 150 or more. Two out of these three times, he ended up with a double ton next to his name.
In other words, the young batter has always been a task to get out whenever he got set on the field. Barring Graeme Smith, no one has ever converted their first hundreds more times to a score of 150 or more than the Indian virtuoso.
Yashasvi’s arrival has given the much-needed stability to India’s top order in Tests. After his brilliant debut performance where he scored 171 runs in the second innings of a dying Dominica pitch and a 57-run knock in the very next match, Jaiswal had to wait for 5 innings to fire again. Staying true to his finesse, he did show up when it was needed the most. Right now, he has ticked off just one of the many ingredients in the recipe for a brilliant career; he has popped with a great start. Numerous exceptional starts now dwell only in the stats and records. To elevate himself beyond being merely a number or a holder of outstanding records, Yashasvi needs only to harness what he already has in his arsenal.
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