NEW DELHI: Close your eyes and imagine an archetypal Yashasvi Jaiswal innings in red-ball cricket. What do you see? Lots of drives down the ground, some disdainful cuts and a few strokes straight out white-ball cricket? You wouldn't be wrong. However, Jaiswal is also very methodical in how he goes about constructing a long red-ball innings.
He takes time to judge and assess the pitch and the conditions and isn't too bothered with hitting boundaries 10 minutes into an innings. Once he has sussed out the nature of the strip and the opposition bowlers, that's when he begins to show his full range.
It's why the start of a bellwether Jaiswal innings is an important indication. If it contains some leaves, a few singles on both sides of the wicket and where the bat doesn't go in search of deliveries slanted across him from over the wicket... he may be in for the long haul.
This was the chops he exhibited before he brought up his seventh Test 100 against West Indies on Day One of the second Test at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Friday. On an increasingly sun-kissed day in front of a decent turnout considering it wasn't a holiday, the 23-year-old married patience in the first session before following it up with exuberance in the second to put the visiting bowling attack to the sword.
He did have to survive a testing early spell — there were three plays and misses inside the first hour — when there was some early movement. Even as KL Rahul got himself going with a flurry of boundaries, the Mumbaikar was happy to play out dot balls at the other end. In fact, he was on one after the first 15 balls before guiding a ball through the cordon for four.
But the shot that really got him going also woke up the few 1000 early birds inside the Stadium. Anderson Phillip, in place of Johann Layne, had started the session with some tidy bowling. But when he went a touch too full, Jaiswal picked the length and hammered it back past the bowler. It was uppish but it was hit with a lot of venom. It was one of the hallmarks of his batting; punishing the pacers whenever they went full.
Post lunch, when they went short and wide, he stood tall and cut them for boundaries. Roston Chase & Co tried but they couldn't stop the bleeding: Jaiswal, 40 on 78 at lunch, motored along in the second session. When the spinners came on from both ends, the opener displayed his class all around the wicket. It's something he did last year against the visiting England team and he did the same to the trio of Chase, Khary Pierre and Jomel Warrican.
All three of them suffered at the Jaiswal altar but it wasn't only via fours. Off his unbeaten 173, 92 came against the trio (45 singles, eight fours).
1000 runs against spin since Jan 2024
He has multiple options for every ball and knows he can tuck them for cheap singles in front of square on the leg side if there's no release shot to be had. It's what has made him the most successful batter against spin bowling in this format since the beginning of 2024. He can access different areas, be it over the bowler's head or over mid-wicket. He also likes the late cut. For somebody who prefers to hit the ball, he's also a touch player.
Just as the first shadows were forming an orderly queue to streak across the famous old ground, the Mumbai batter brought up a 1000 runs against slower balls in the longest format since January 1, 2024.
A preference for daddy 100s
Like most openers, Jaiswal is vulnerable early on in his innings. This year alone, he has been dismissed for 10 or below five times in 14 innings but when he passes that early phase, he invariably makes it count. His incredible appetite for runs — something Daren Sammy mentioned in the matchday minus two press conference — means he refocuses once he goes past a century. It's why he has been able to score big 100s.
Right from his debut Test against the West Indies in Dominica where he showed an abundance of fight to make runs the hard way on a sluggish surface and a slow outfield, his hunger for run-making has stood out. Out of the seven times he has made a century, five of those have been 150 or more.
In the post-day press conference, Sitanshu Kotak, batting coach, praised his 'determination'. On Saturday, the Young Turk will look to showcase that determination again.
