Watch: During the first Test match against the West Indies, Yashasvi Jaiswal reverse swept the first ball of the last over of his first day in Test cricket for four.
Opting to bat first at Windsor Park in Roseau, Dominica, West Indies were 68-4 by lunch and 137-8 by tea before being bowled out for 150 against R Ashwin (5-60) and Ravindra Jadeja (3-26). The only substantial resistance came from debutant Alick Athanaze (47).
India demoted regular Test opener Shubman Gill to No.3, and captain Rohit Sharma opened batting with debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal.
Jaiswal came into the Test series with a first-class average of 80.21 from 15 matches. He had reached fifty 11 times, and converted nine of them to hundreds.
He took first strike, and began cautiously against Kemar Roach and Alzarri Joseph. There was a scare when an edge off Joseph fell short of third slip. Then, after going scoreless for 15 balls, he finally got off the mark with an uppercut off Joseph, for four.
After the drinks break, Jaiswal swept Rahkeem Cornwall for four, and caught up with Rohit by the 10th over. When Brathwaite got spin from both ends, he waited for short-pitched balls, then Cornwall and Jomel Warrican for fours.
India reached 75-0 when Warrican came to bowl the last over of the day – a phase batters typically approach cautiously; debutants, more so.
But Jaiswal had made up his mind. He had probably noticed the vacant point area. By the time the left-arm spinner Warrican released the ball from round the wicket, Jaiswal was already in position for the reverse sweep.
He middled the ball, and it raced to the boundary, and stepped out and pushed the next ball past mid-wicket to get off strike. Rohit played out the last four balls, and India ended the day on 80-0, Rohit on 30, his young partner on 40.
Watch Yashasvi Jaiswal reverse sweep for four:
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