After watching others score big last week, the young opener turned hunger into a statement hundred in Delhi ©BCCI
It was a day of domination by the Indian batters and Yashasvi Jaiswal provided the piece de resistance – an unbeaten century marked by class, courage, conviction, avarice, and above all, patience. The young opener made amends for his miss in Ahmedabad, where he had been a silent spectator to three centuries by his teammates. On Friday, it was their turn to watch in awe and admiration as Jaiswal registered a mature, unbeaten hundred.
“He will score the most runs in this Test. He’s that kind of player; once he gets going, he’s unstoppable. He couldn’t score big in the first Test, so he’ll be hungry. He’s seen everyone else make runs, and he must be thinking, in the next five days, I’ll play a big innings,” Abhishek Nayar had predicted before the start of the Delhi Test.
Jaiswal proved the former India assistant coach right. He was unbeaten on 173 at stumps, scoring at a staggering strike rate of nearly 70. More than half of India’s runs on the day came off his bat, most of them through behind and in front of the square on the off-side, his business area – the Jaiswal Commercial District.
After missing his chance in Ahmedabad – cramped for room, he was caught behind attempting a cut off Jayden Seales – Jaiswal went back to his mentor Zubin Bharucha to discuss a way forward. Predominantly an off-side player, he knew similar tactics would be employed against him. He made a subtle adjustment.
“The only discussion we had post the dismissal in the last Test was whether we could move the guard back a shade to ensure he has a little more room to execute the cut shot. That is the shot that gets him his most runs. It’s his favourite too. Given that the last time he was caught behind trying to cut a ball that was too close to him, he slightly moved back,” Bharucha, who has worked with many an Indian batter, including Dhruv Jurel, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, apart from Jaiswal, revealed to Cricbuzz.
The shots, though, came much later. First, he had to first get the measure of the pitch and the conditions. The commentators reminded viewers of an old mantra – “Give the first hour to the bowler and keep the rest for yourself” – a philosophy often attributed to Sunil Gavaskar, the quintessential red-ball opener. As Bharucha observed, it’s also a time-honoured practice in Mumbai’s maidan cricket and Jaiswal has played enough of it to remember the golden principle of opening.
Jaiswal’s knock stood out for its pacing and patience. His first fifty came off 82 deliveries, the second in 63, and the third in 79 – a perfectly paced innings that reflected his zen-like patience and elephantine hunger. Incidentally, five of his seven Test centuries have been scores of 150 or more.
“The way he adapted to the bounce and pace of the wicket and the shots he played was brilliant. For me, the most important (aspect of his batting) was that he was determined to play a big inning. Obviously he is still playing. But I think that determination and that belief, after not being so aggressive (was the highlight). That shows how well he batted,” Sitanshu Kotak, India’s batting coach, analysed Jaiswal’s batting of the day. Floyd Reifer, Kotak’s counterpart in the West Indies team, added, “He batted all day, which is a big plus. For any young batter to bat all day desperately, that’s very good.”
Jaiswal relies on cuts, cover drives, straight drives and upper cuts for runs. In England, Ben Stokes would try to stop his flow of runs by placing deep point and deep third man. That he could still find a way is a different matter – 411 runs, with two centuries and two half centuries, including a ton in the second innings of the final Test are the testimony. But there were no such challenges in his march in Delhi on Friday. Roston Chase and West Indies did not post such check points for him in the deep.
Shot selection was another high point of Jaiswal’s innings. He made intelligent use of his scoring zones, with more than 100 runs coming through the off-side. He is also known to step out to spinners but he showed restraint this time – despite there being 53 overs of spin by West Indies bowlers. It was a clear display of maturity, discipline and determination.
Kotak lauded Jaiswal’s shot selection which, he said, was influenced by the conditions. “The selection of shots, square off the wicket. I think the players like him or any players at this level, will obviously see the conditions, see the wicket, see the bounce, see the bowlers, and then probably they will target the areas,” the batting coach pointed out.
One rare flaw in his batting has been his tendency to lose his wicket to left-arm spinners. In his burgeoning career, he has fallen to them seven times – Liam Dawson in England, and Mitchell Santner and Ajaz Patel in India last year being the recent ones. Attacking them has never been an issue; defending against them has been. But that weakness, too, seems to have been ironed out. He handled Jomel Warrican and Khary Pierre, both left-arm spinners from the West Indies, with remarkable assurance and confidence.
With India at 318 for two and Jaiswal going strong on 173, a major opportunity beckons him and Anil Kumble thinks he should go for a triple century. “Jaiswal is just getting better and better day by day. We’ve spoken about his hunger and his attitude toward building big innings, not just for himself but for the team. Throughout his short career, he has shown that he doesn’t waste opportunities like these. Once he’s in, he makes it count, and that’s wonderful to see. He’s still out there, and he can go on to score big runs tomorrow. Jaiswal now has a great opportunity, not just for a double hundred, but maybe even a triple hundred tomorrow,” the former India captain told the broadcaster post stumps.
A big Day 2 is coming up for Jaiswal and India.
© Cricbuzz