WI vs INDDebutant Yashasvi Jaiswal lives up to the billing on opening day of 1st Test

By India Today Sports Desk21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal made his debut for India in the 1st Test match against West Indies on Wednesday, 12 July. Jaiswal, who is coming off a tremendous domestic and Indian Premier League season gave a small show of his capabilities when he walked out to bat with captain Rohit Sharma in the final hour of play on Day 1.

Jaiswal’s entry into the playing XI of the national side is being seen as a clear shift towards the future by the Indian team. The left-hander is one amongst the prodigiously talented batters who have toiled hard in the domestic ciruit and found IPL fame very early in their career. With an aging Indian team, that has been defeated in two successive World Test Championship Finals, the Board of Control for Cricket in India has tried to push for skeletal changes in the Indian side.

WI vs IND, 1st TestDay 1 Report

Opener Shubman Gill has been dropped to number 3 – originally veteran Cheteshwar Pujara’s position. This has allowed the accommodation of Jaiswal in the opening slot alongside captain Sharma. The final change has been made due to the lack of availability of players in the keeper-batter position. Ishan Kishan, who was being carried by the team for a while has finally been given a go in place of KS Bharat.

Lot of eyes were on Jaiswal after his prolific IPL season, where he scored he 625 runs with Rajasthan Royals. Jaiswal outshone Jos Buttler, his much senior partner in the Royals side. Things did not stop there, as Jaiswal dominated teams in the domestic arena. He has already hit 1845 runs from 15 matches at a staggering average of 80.21.

With the backing of incredible numbers, Jaiswal’s debut for the national team could have been a nerve-wracking affair. And it was for the first 16 balls of the innings. Coming out to bat in the last hour of the day’s play, Jaiswal had to remain patient as Rohit handled the bulk of the scoring. The left-hander cut Alzarri Joseph for four to score his first runs in Test cricket. From there it was a cakewalk.

With the pitch slowing down significantly, Jaiswal slowly started dominating the spinners. In the first ball of the final over of the day, Jaiswal reverse-swept Jomel Warrican for four – an audacious shot from an audacious debutant. The batter remained not out at 40 off 73 balls and will be in the running for a half-century on debut with the Indian team. But why stop there? With the talent and ease that Jaiswal batted, India spinner Ravi Ashwin and former Australian cricketer Tom Moody felt that he was meant for great things. Who knows, he might equal the likes of Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid and score an overseas century in his debut Test series.