Yashasvi Jaiswal ended 2024 with one of the best run-tallies by a Test opener in a calendar year, also setting a new India record.
Jaiswal, who is India’s top run-getter in the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy, scored 171 in Perth and hit 82 & 84 in Melbourne. His run-tally in 2024 now stands at 1,478 runs at 54.74: only Joe Root has scored more runs this year. His fighting 84 in the fourth innings at the MCG was cut short by a controversial caught-behind dismissal.
Jaiswal’s run tally is the fourth-best for a Test opener in a calendar year, behind Graeme Smith (1,656 runs in 2008) as well as Michael Vaughan and Justin Langer (1,481 runs in 2002 and 2004 respectively). Jaiswal also hit 12 fifty-plus scores, the joint second-best by an opener in a calendar year, level with Sunil Gavaskar (1979) and Graeme Smith (2008), and bettered only by Virender Sehwag (13 in 2010).
Jaiswal beat Sehwag’s 2008 tally of 1,462 runs to set a new record for an India opener in a calendar year. Interestingly, Jaiswal also has three ducks this year, the joint-third most by an Indian Test opener in a calendar year.
The bulk of Jaiswal’s runs this year have come at home: 1,091 runs at 60.61, which is a record for any Test opener. He beat the 1990 record set by Graham Gooch, who scored 1,058 runs in England at 96.18, including his epic 333.
Most runs by a Test opener in a calendar year
| Player | Team | Runs | Average | Year |
| Graeme Smith | South Africa | 1656 | 72 | 2008 |
| Michael Vaughan | England | 1481 | 61.7 | 2002 |
| Justin Langer | Australia | 1481 | 54.85 | 2004 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | India | 1478 | 54.74 | 2024 |
| Virender Sehwag | India | 1462 | 56.23 | 2008 |
Overall, it is the second-best tally by an India batter in a calendar year, only behind Sachin Tendulkar's 1,562 runs from 2010. Tendulkar hit seven Test centuries that year, a feat that hasn't been matched by an Indian yet.
Most runs by an India batter in a calendar year
| Player | Matches | Runs | Average | Year |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 14 | 1562 | 78.1 | 2010 |
| Yashasvi Jaiswal | 15 | 1478 | 54.74 | 2024 |
| Virender Sehwag | 14 | 1462 | 56.23 | 2008 |
| Virender Sehwag | 14 | 1422 | 61.82 | 2010 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 17 | 1407 | 54.11 | 1979 |
Jaiswal is also only the fourth Indian to hit three or more 150+ scores in the same year. Virat Kohli hit four in 2016 and three in 2017, Tendulkar hit three each in 2002 and 2004, while Sehwag hit three in 2008.
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