Yashasvi’s Jazball puts hosts in position of strength
If Jaiswal’s in-tray was about unsettling the spinners and transferring pressure on Thursday, it will be about making a bigger contribution when the teams come back on Friday.
HYDERABAD: A day out from the Test, Rohit Sharma had backed India’s myriad talented youngsters to come good with the bat. The team management had the option of going back to the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and/or Ajinkya Rahane but after deliberations, they threw their weight behind talented but inexperienced turks.
“We did think of going back to fill in Kohli’s absence, but then when will we give the youngsters the chance,” the captain had said. “Leaving out an experienced player or not considering them is very hard. The amount of runs they have scored, the amount of games they have won, it’s very hard to ignore all of that.”
24 hours later, Yashasvi Jaiswal proved his captain right with a belligerence one associates with youth. Now, the southpaw was always going to play. As a left-handed opener, he’s already a point of difference.
But the management have had to mix and match to bring the 22-year-old into the Test squad. Both KL Rahul and Shubman Gill have been shunted down the order for varying reasons.
But this move has worked out by design. Playing in his first Test at home and only his fifth overall, he wasted little time in leaving his stamp on the occasion. Off the first ball of the innings, he drilled a juicy ball on the pads through square leg. He then welcomed debutant Tom Hartley with a slog-sweep that sailed over the boundary.
Few balls later, another sweep followed with the same result. It was a calculated assault — Jazball if you will — on the young spinner and it was clear he never recovered from it. By the time stumps were drawn, he had figures of 0/63 in nine overs.
His length was too short and Jaiswal, who had made a 100 on debut in the West Indies, was happy to crunch him through mid-wicket. When Hartley overcompensated by going too full, Jaiswal drove him through covers. When the one-Test old Rehan Ahmed came into the attack, he got treated to something similar.
The one advantage that Jaiswal has is all spinners turn the ball into him so it was kind of a surprise that the tourists didn’t give Joe Root an over or two before close of play.
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