Yashasvi Jaiswal’s counter-attacking half-century went in vain as the Indian cricket team lost their second Test of the 2024 series against New Zealand by 113 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune on Saturday.
Jaiswal top-scored for India in the second innings with a 65-ball 77 but could not find enough support from the other end with the Indian innings folding out for 245 in the final innings on day three. The Rajasthan Royals batter played an aggressive knock which was studded with nine fours and three sixes.
Chasing 359, the left-handed Jaiswal made his intentions clear with a six and a four off the second and third ball of the first over bowled by Tim Southee. The opener added 34 runs for the opening wicket with captain Rohit Sharma in quick time.
Though Rohit departed, Jaiswal continued to find the gaps and kept the scoreboard ticking with ones and twos. He also used his feet well against the spinners, smashing Mitchell Santner and Glenn Phillips for sixes in consecutive overs.
Those hits took Jaiswal to 32 sixes in Tests played this year making him only the second batter in the history of Test cricket to score more than 30 sixes in a calendar year. He is just one hit away from Brendon McCullum who tops the list with 33 sixes from nine matches for New Zealand in 2014.
India went into lunch on top with Shubman Gill giving company to Jaiswal and the score reading 81/1 from just 12 overs.
Jaiswal got to his fifty in style with a punched four off Phillips, taking only 41 balls to reach his seventh half-century in 2024, the fastest by an Indian batter against the Kiwis. He continued in the same vein scoring five more boundaries as India raced past the 100-run mark.
The southpaw put on 62 runs with Gill for the second wicket and added a further 31 runs with Virat Kohli before departing for 77. His wicket opened the floodgates with India losing their last seven wickets for 118 runs.
Earlier, in the first innings, the 22-year-old Jaiswal became the youngest Indian cricketer to complete 1000 Test runs in a calendar year. He has a tally of 1084 runs from 10 Test matches in 2024 at an average of 60.22 including two double hundreds and seven fifties.