Few young openers have begun their Test careers in such a thumping fashion as India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal has done.
The young left-handed pocket dynamo has gone from strength to strength in quick time, already putting his name alongside some of the legends of world cricket at a young age, while threatening the records of past greats.
After ending the five-Test series in England on a high, with a 118 at The Oval, Jaiswal has slammed a brilliant unbeaten century on day 1 of the second Test against the West Indies in Delhi.
In good batting conditions at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, skipper Shubman Gill won the toss and elected to bat first.
While KL Rahul, centurion from the Ahmedabad Test, failed to convert his start into a substantial score, getting out on 38, his opening partner, Jaiswal, who himself had failed to convert his start into a substantial score in Ahmedabad, scoring 36, bedded in for the long haul in Delhi.
Jaiswal batted the entire day 1 and remained unbeaten on 173 runs, scored off 253 balls at a healthy strike rate of 68. The southpaw cut, pulled, drove, swept, lofted, and showed his full range of shots around the ground in ransacking 22 fours.
Jaiswal’s 173* is now the fourth-most amount of runs an India opener has scored on day 1 of a Test match. He is on the third spot as well, with his 179 against England last year in Vizag.
Jaiswal eyes century records of Rohit Sharma, Gautam Gambhir as India’s Test openers
Meanwhile, this was Yashasvi Jaiswal’s 7th Test century, to go with 12 fifties, in what is only his 26th Test match. This hundred has now put him on level with Shikhar Dhawan for centuries by India’s openers in Test cricket, and now Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are in his sight.
As India’s Test openers, Rohit and Gambhir hit 9 Test centuries in 38 and 57 Tests, respectively.
Let us check the list of India openers with the most Test centuries:
- Sunil Gavaskar – 33
- Virender Sehwag – 22
- Murali Vijay – 12
- KL Rahul – 10
- Gautam Gambhir, Rohit Sharma – 9
- Navjot Singh Sidhu – 8
- Yashavi Jaiswal, Shikhar Dhawan – 7
Jaiswal is currently averaging 53, which is the highest by any batsman on the above list.
And he has done all of this while he’s still not turned 24 years old. Only three batsmen in Test cricket’s history have scored more Test centuries than Jaiswal’s 7 before turning 24: Don Bradman: 12 centuries; Sachin Tendulkar: 11 centuries; and Garry Sobers: 9 centuries. Jaiswal is sitting in the most elite company in Test cricket.
Meanwhile, at stumps on day 1 in Delhi, India are 318/2, with Jaiswal and Gill at the crease. Earlier, Sai Sudharsan notched up his second Test fifty but fell 13 runs short of what would have been his maiden Test hundred.
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