BENGALURU: Shortly after 10.00 AM on the rained-out opening day, Yashasvi Jaiswal strode out from the dressing room to the far side of the ground. Kitted up, the southpaw was going to have a hit in the indoor practice facility inside the sprawling KSCA campus.
Even as his thin six-foot frame disappeared beyond the sight screen and into the bowels of the facility in the heart of the city, it wasn't hard to come to grips with Rohit Sharma's assessment of his opening partner a day before the Test.
"The guy has got real talent," the skipper said. "He has got the game to play in all sorts of conditions. Obviously, very new to international cricket, so it's very hard to judge right now. But he has got all the ingredients for success at this level."
When Jaiswal made his Test bow in the West Indies in July 2023, he had already built up a reputation for his white-ball prowess. Even if he had made a ton of domestic red-ball runs, the left-hander's one-day stock was arguably higher. Not anymore. If anything, he has very quickly established himself as one of the best Test openers going around.
His capacity to see through the new ball, ability to constantly put the bad deliveries away and always keep the scoreboard ticking are invaluable traits in the modern game. Since the time he made his debut in the West Indies in 2023, only three openers have made more runs than him but the 22-year-old is the standout in terms of average (refer to table). It helps a lot that he scores his runs at a fair clip; among left-handed openers (minimum 10 Tests), only Ben Duckett has scored quicker since the turn of the century.
Sharma, who has been Jaiswal's opening partner for each of the latter's 11 matches in the game's longest format, name-checked his 'aggressive' instincts with the bat.
"So far in his short career, he has shown what he is capable of," Sharma said. "We found a great player. It does obviously bode well for our team as well being a left-hander, being an aggressive batter, it bodes well for the team.
"Hopefully, he can just continue to do what he has done in the last year or so."
Sharma doesn't come across as somebody who has the history of Indian cricket at his fingertips — that's more R Ashwin's territory — but the skipper inadvertently shone a light on why Jaiswal's rise is almost contrarian to India's rich cricketing history. There have only been 16 left-handed openers (part-time as well as specialists) for the men's team, with Jaiswal becoming only the fifth to bat in that position in more than 10 matches. It gives the team greater flexibility, a left-right combination and solidity at the top. Put it this way: almost all of India's great red-ball openers have been right-handers. Jaiswal is literally challenging 90 years of history.
The good news, according to Sharma, is Jaiswal's never-ending quest to keep upskilling. "He is somebody who wants to learn the game, learn about batsmanship, which is always a nice thing," he said. "When a youngster comes into the team, his mindset is quite critical. The mindset that he has shown, he always wants to learn, always wants to improve, not happy with what he has achieved which is obviously a great start to a young career."
This will keep him in good stead because of upcoming challenges in Australia and England. These tours have broken more senior Indian openers so it will be interesting to see how Jaiswal adapts on the fly in conditions he has never played before at this level. There were some questions asked about his temperament following the two-match series in South Africa, albeit on some extreme decks. But Sharma is dead sure that he's an all-terrain operator.
"What he has shown us in this brief period of time, you can bet on him and expect him to do wonders for the team," he said. "He has come through the ranks. He has played a lot of domestic cricket, Under-19 cricket. And obviously, has succeeded as well. That is why he is right now playing for India."
The other effect he has had on this team is they are now hitting sixes at an unprecedented rate. Jaiswal leads the list of most sixes by an opener in 2024 with 29. To paint a contrast, the next five players put together an aggregate of 30. These things matter because they provide the side with multiple options.
At 22, Jaiswal is still young and he will have to watch out for the sophomore slump. If he can come through that test, he could be a long-term game-changer.
Players Runs Avg S/R
Ben Duckett 1771 45.41 88.95
Usman Khawaja 1676 42.97 43.35
Zak Crawley 1584 39.60 79.12
Yashasvi Jaiswal 1217 64.05 71.67
Players Runs Avg
Yashasvi Jaiswal 1217 64.05
Shikhar Dhawan 690 36.31
Gautam Gambhir 630 42