The opening day of the India and England’s five-Test series was lit up by a Yashasvi Jaiswal special. Aadya Sharma, in Hyderabad, writes on the Bazball-overshadowing assault.
It took little time on Thursday morning for “Bazball”, making its debut on Indian soil, to feature at the top of X‘s trending section.
By 4pm IST, “Jaisball” had squeezed in too.
It was a silly wordplay on England’s radical approach, but it exemplified how a day that started in the tourists’ favour, ended up being dominated by Yashasvi Jaiswal. For a 22-year-old yet to play even five Tests, Jaiswal has already gained the reputation of a fearless run-machine primed for a great three-format future. Day one in Hyderabad was the continuation of that story.
When he batted for eight hours in Roseau last year, breaking the back of the West Indies with a chanceless 171, he didn’t look one bit a Test debutant. “At no stage he was panicking or going away from plans”, said Rohit Sharma later. “In the middle, it was just about having a chat, letting him know, ‘You belong here’.”
That Jaiswal belongs to the top stage was an established fact much before his debut. Home-grown and rigorously trained, he advanced from U19 star to domestic prodigy to IPL hero, progressing inexorably towards the India kit. It was a matter of when, not if.
In Hyderabad, Jaiswal got his first chance to open in a Test at home. A month ago, he was in South Africa, where he endured a challenging trip, crossing 20 just once in four innings, a rare sequence of failures in an otherwise spotless first-class record thus far.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's masterful 76* (70) has put India in a strong position at stumps on day one in Hyderabad 💪#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/y3OclOaika
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) January 25, 2024
England’s Bazball wasn’t quite Bazball-ish, leaving India a session to bat on the opening day. Mark Wood began by hurling rockets down Jaiswal’s leg stump line in the possible hope that he’d send something to the catching positions. The tactic didn’t last long.
Tom Hartley, their choice from the other end, was his next challenge. He was greeted with a Jaiswal six off his very first ball in Tests. He repeated it four balls later, exploiting all the empty space there was and giving the hard ball a tight whack.
One of Jaiswal’s biggest strengths so far has been the ability to look utterly focussed and untroubled. When he puts on his helmet, he is the same baby-faced Jaiswal, piling on runs for Mumbai or Rajasthan Royals or India U19, packed to the brim with self-belief. He gets into the ‘zone’ easily, batting on for hours. In home conditions, that makes him even more threatening.
There’s no apparent weakness in his game either: technically watertight, he reads lengths brilliantly, maximises match-ups and governs his own tempo. Having put pressure on Hartley, he was happy to take on a more conservative approach against Jack Leach, choosing the deliveries to pounce on carefully. The fifty came in just 47 balls. In India’s era of bowling-dominated home success in Tests, a young batter might just have started a revolution.
India well ahead in the game after that refreshing innings from Yashasvi Jaiswal. He will bring a lot of people into stadiums and in front of TV screens
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) January 25, 2024
Full deliveries with the slightest room were drilled through the off side. Anything too short or too floated was whacked on the leg side. Over by over, Jaiswal dismantled the tourists.
By the end of the day, he had raced to 76 off 70, nine hits to the fence and three over them. There was nothing brute or rash, just assured, confident, machine-like run-making.
When stumps were called, and the players were walking off, Jaiswal casually wandered back, before realising he’d left his partner Shubman Gill behind. He was probably still in the ‘zone’, head down, no expressions, just ready to return tomorrow.
Bazball was meant to save Test cricket. Jaisball might draw fans to the ground.
Jaiswal might already have made a few fans within the Indian team.”We enjoyed the manner of his batting a lot,” Axar Patel said in the press conference. “He took on the spinners from the first over itself. He played his strokes. It was a brave call, full credit to him”
“He’s not put a foot wrong, playing some shots,” Ashwin said “I’m enjoying watching it”.
He’s not the only one.
