Picture credit: BCCI

India's trailblazing opener Yashasvi Jaiswal on Friday slammed his second Test century on Day 1 of the 2nd Test between India at England at Visakhapatnam. This is also Jaiswal's first-ever century at home, after having narrowly missed out in the 1st Test, where he was dismissed for a fiery 80 in the first innings.

 

 

Captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and elected to bat first on a good-looking batting pitch. However, Sharma departed early as debutant Shoaib Bashir picked up his first wicket in Tests. Shubman Gill walked in at No.3 to accompany an already high-flying Jaiswal, who got to his half-century with a cracking four, coming off just 89 balls. India went to lunch at 103/2, with James Anderson removing Gill for the fifth time in Tests. By then, the Royals batter looked set for a big score. 

Yashasvi continued to lead the charge in the 2nd session, joined by his Mumbai teammate Shreyas Iyer, also looking to take on the bowlers. In the 45th over, Jaiswal smashed a hat-trick of fours to Tom Hartley that took him to the eighties in no time. With his mind set on attacking Hartley yet again, he went after the spinner in the 49th over, launching a massive six over long-on to register a well-deserved hundred. 

After scoring his fifty and hundred with a four and a six, Jaiswal went on to score his first 150-plus score in typical fashion - with a four off his ex-Royal teammate, Joe Root. By stumps on Day 1, Jaiswal left the field unbeaten on 179 - his highest score in Test cricket so far!

In a different league

With two hundreds in his bag, Yashasvi is now part of an elite list of Indian batters to have scored multiple Test centuries at the age of 22 or less. The only other Indian batter to achieve this feat was former legend Sunil Gavaskar. 

 

 

A record debut in 2023

After putting up a spectacular show in IPL 2024 for Rajasthan Royals, Yashasvi got his first taste of Test cricket in the Caribbean, scoring his maiden international century in only his first Test of the series. His record knock of 171 earned him plenty of praise from the cricketing fraternity, along with an entry into the record books of Indian and world cricket. In 5 Tests so far, the southpaw has already amassed over 500 runs, 2 fifties and 2 hundreds.

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