WI vs Ind Test Series 2023: Yashasvi Jaiswal announces his arrival at the biggest stage with a century (171 runs) on Test debut.
The Indian team led by Rohit Sharma, after their second consecutive WTC Final debacle in England, opened their World Test Championship 2023-25 campaign on a solid note in the first Test against West Indies as they have straightaway gained an ascendency and things looks set to go in their way for the rest of the series.
But for now, we will discuss about India’s latest debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal who has announced his arrival in international cricket in style. He has been the talk of the town for the last couple of days for his scintillating yet composed century on his Test debut.
Adversity in initial days didn’t hinder Jaiswal’s pursuit as he performed well in domestic circuit
The talented Jaiswal didn’t have it easy when it comes to his younger days and his cricketing journey is an extraordinary one. From staying in a tent, playing club games and selling pani puri to meet his needs while also developing his skills through all this adversity, Jaiswal is already an inspiration to many.
His talent was always visible since his junior cricket days and then at the Under-19 level where he was again prolific. The left-hander continued his rich vein of form in the domestic circuit propelling him to be in the reckoning for national selection for quite a while now.
Jaiswal made a mark in a stunning fashion when he smashed a double ton in his very first Vijay Hazare Trophy game in 2019-20 and was then in a prolific form when it came to first-class cricket. He scored 7 first class tons in the year 2022 which includes 4 Ranji tons (3 of which came in knockouts), 2 in a Duleep Trophy game and one for the India A side on their tour to Bangladesh.
The icing on the cake was his spectacular run in the IPL 2023 for Rajasthan Royals where he amassed 625 runs at an average of 48.08 and striking at 163, scoring a century in the process. He eventually won the emerging player of the year award.
Domestic heroics lead to Test call up where he scored debut hundred
Thanks to his domestic heroics, Jaiswal earned a maiden call-up to the Test team and found a place right away in the playing XI wherein he opened the innings with India skipper Rohit Sharma. The absence of KL Rahul and Shubman Gill’s request to play at the no. 3 spot paved way for Jaiswal’s debut in the longest format of the game.
In the domestic arena, Jaiswal averaged 80.21 in 15 first class games playing for India A and in Ranji Trophy scoring 9 centuries. One would think that Jaiswal would take some time to acclimatise to the challenges at the highest level, but the left-hander took international cricket like fish to water.
On a slow surface in Dominica, Jaiswal played with great calm and composure to become the 17th Indian batter to score a century on Test debut and 14th to score a ton in his very first innings. He also became the 7th Indian to score a debut hundred in an overseas Test. He eventually got out on 171 but not before playing a marathon knock which came in 387 balls. This is the third most number of deliveries faced by a batter in his debut Test innings. He is only behind Sri Lanka’s Brendon Kuruppu (548) and New Zealand’s Matthew Sinclair (447).
This shows his hunger, determination and patience to play attritional game in the traditional format of the sport, which is contrary to his aggressive style of play. The surface in Dominica demanded such gameplay as the wicket was not straightforward for strokeplay and the debutant was quick enough to adjust to conditions, curbing his natural instincts.
More than his 171, the heartening thing we were able to witness is how he was upset when going back to the pavilion. This kind of attitude will take Jaiswal a long way forward in his career and we can certainly hope that Jaiswal will don the Indian hat for a long time in Test cricket.
While it is not certain that Jaiswal will retain his place or not once KL Rahul returns to the Test side post injury but impressive showings in whatever chances he gets will put him straight up in the pecking order. Also, with India skipper Rohit Sharma in favour of getting a left-hander at the top of the order, the chances are there that we may get to see Jaiswal more prominently in whites than in other formats, at least for now.
He is no doubt the future of Indian cricket along with Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and Ruturaj Gaikwad in Test cricket and it will be interesting to see how he fares in more challenging SENA countries and turning tracks back home against top-quality attacks.
For now, one can rejoice that India seem to have found a great talent at the top of the order in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Jaiswal’s incredible knock drew praise from various quarters with respected cricketing pundit Ian Bishop taking to Twitter after Yashasvi’s century.
“I join with millions of cricket fans across India in celebrating the story and the rise of Yashasvi Jaiswal. Overcoming life’s adversity with great character and self-belief. Test hundred on debut.”
Dinesh Karthik took Bishop’s famous catch phrase “Remember the name” to describe the young left-hander from Mumbai.
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