The falling ramp offered a throwback to Rishabh Pant’s treatment of James Anderson in Ahmedabad three years ago. Anderson was 38 years old then, and a callow youngster treating him with disdain obviously didn’t go down well with the England legend. Now 41 years old and still playing, the fast bowler was put to the sword by Yashasvi Jaiswal in Rajkot on Sunday. The age difference between Anderson and Jaiswal is close to 20 years. It was the irreverence of youth.
The falling ramp for a four was just the prelude. Anderson bowled full outside off, and southpaw Jaiswal moved quickly and ramped it to the fine leg boundary while falling over. It was an audacious shot.
In Anderson’s next over, the young Indian roared again. The veteran had a yorker gone wrong, and Jaiswal dispatched it over the fine leg boundary for a six. The next delivery was outside off. The India opener came down the track and belted it over the extra cover boundary for another maximum, his ninth six of the innings. Anderson went wide, but Jaiswal waited before pummeling it over the bowler’s head for a six. A hat-trick of sixes. Also, it was Jaiswal 10th, the most by an Indian in an innings, surpassing Rohit Sharma’s record. A new star is born.
The boy, who literally came from the Mumbai maidans, could be the face of Indian cricket post-Virat Kohli. This is the 22-year-old’s seventh Test and he has already scored two double hundreds. Back in the early 1990s, Vinod Kambli did that. The left-hander from Kanjur Marg had sizzled before he quickly fizzled. Indian cricket needs to wrap the southpaw from Thane in cotton wool.
🚨 World Record 🚨
Yashasvi Jaiswal has now hit most number of sixes in a series in the history of Test cricket
22 sixes so far in 3 matches
Before this, no batter managed to hit 20 sixes in a single series
Previous best was ⬇️
19 sixes by Rohit Sharma vs SA, 2019
📸 @BCCI… pic.twitter.com/2LbbdgGGhU
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) February 18, 2024
Jaiswal’s 231-ball 200 during India’s second innings against England in Rajkot had 14 fours and 10 sixes. So a total of 116 runs came in boundaries and over-boundaries. And yet, the innings had two halves. He was sedate and played a classical Test innings until he reached his fifty yesterday. Then, an Anderson over saw him switch gears. He retired on 104 after suffering cramps, on Saturday On Sunday, Jaiswal returned to the crease after Shubman Gill fell prey to a mix-up. He batted at his own pace initially before upping the ante. Yet again, he targeted Anderson.
Jaiswal’s knack of scoring daddy hundreds attests his hunger for runs. He is someone who wows the opponents even. No wonder then that England opener Ben Duckett praised his Indian counterpart at the post-day press conference yesterday, before making a bizarre claim that Bazball had a role to play in Jaiswal’s aggression.
Duckett was way off the mark, for long before Bazball was introduced by Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes two years ago, India had Virender Sehwag. That was Viruball. The team is now revelling in Jazball.
