The focus on Friday will be on two players billed as the future of Indian batting. The first Test against England in Hyderabad is obviously not about these two alone, but they have an opportunity to stamp their authority on this game, which would help them cement their places in the team.
Yashasvi Jaiswal has already made an impression by racing to an unbeaten 76 off 70 balls in a total of 119 for one. He won’t get a better stage than this to enhance his credentials further. It’s not the easiest of pitches to bat on, but the handicapped nature of England’s bowling gives every batter a chance. Plus, a biggie first up in a marquee series is not a bad way to score brownie points.
Shubman Gill has a similar chance. Hailed a future superstar, he has not set the stage ablaze in this format. The team management has granted his wish to bat at No. 3 instead of opening the innings. He did not do justice to that in South Africa and the West Indies, but what appears to be a lacklustre attack gives him a chance to start the process of bettering an average of 30.58 from 20 Tests.
There is something about Jaiswal indicating that he is built for big things. It’s early in his international career and not the time yet to judge if he is that good. However, there is a nonchalance and irreverence for bowlers that set him apart. Not many openers hit two sixes in the second over of a Test innings, even if the bowler happens to be a debutant like left-arm spinner Tom Hartley.
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Having said that, the 22-year-old has to show he has other traits. Test cricket is not and will not be all about clean hitting in the immediate future. A batter has to be prepared to graft and grind, as well as he strikes the ball and smashes bowlers to distant corners. Jaiswal has the shots. Does he have the temperament to change gears and operate at a steadier pace?
He has to remember that despite a half-century under his belt, he will start the second day from scratch. Conditions will be different in the morning than they were on Thursday afternoon and the situation will demand him to be cautious. If he gets through the early phase, Jaiswal should back himself to come good against an attack that showed no teeth on Day 1.
Gill’s challenge is different. The conditions and the situation will be similar for him, but he doesn’t have a half-century to his name. He did the sensible thing by playing out time and collecting 13 runs from 43 balls in the closing stages. Unlike Jaiswal, he has not scored runs in Tests of late. After a century against Australia in Ahmedabad last March, he has a highest of 36 in 10 innings.
That should make him more determined to get a big one here. The pitch is assisting spin, but England do not seem to have the resources to exploit that. Other than Jack Leach, all of their specialist bowlers are new to playing Test cricket in India. In fact, Rehan Ahmed had played just one Test before this and Hartley none. This is Gill’s golden chance to get set and milk the bowling.
Irrespective of the nature of the attack, big and decisive runs in the first match of a big series will relaunch Gill’s career and establish Jaiswal as a future star. They will obviously face sterner tests, but to be selected for those, they will do their cause no harm by making this opportunity count.
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