World's No.1 T20I batter Suryakumar Yadav's reaction to Team India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal's century against England in the second innings of the third Test in Rajkot created quite a buzz online.
After Yashasvi Jaiswal broke a flurry of records with his blistering knock against England, Suryakumar Yadav lauded him on social media.
In his viral post on Instagram, Suryakumar Yadav wrote: “Gaadi ka gear change karna koi tumse seekhe”
Suryakumar Yadav's “gear change” reference was to Yashasvi Jaiswal's change of gears during the innings. From a slow mover, the southpaw transformed himself into a boundary and six-hitting machine.
Suryakumar Yadav is not the only cricketer in awe of Yashasvi Jaiswal, with former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar and ex-England skipper Kevin Pieterson declaring him a special talent.
“I was a little worried with how he started off. I felt he came in pre-conditioned to play defensively because he is a naturally attacking player. But slowly he opened up and once he opened up, it was amazing how he went from Test mode to pure T20 mode. The strike rate he attained after the first 50 balls was in keeping with the T20 game,” Sanjay Manjrekar told ESPNcricinfo.
“To begin with he showed some technique with defensive shots but after that is what made him special. We saw the sweep, the reverse-sweep, the switch-side sweep as well plus the drives that he plays beautifully. He's got the power game as well. He’s a got all the ingredients to become a special player. This was another reminder of the exceptional ability he has,” he mentioned.
Meanwhile, Kevin Pieterson tweeted: “I don't see a single weakness in Jaiswal's game in Indian conditions. His greatest challenge is going to be scoring runs away from home. To be classified as a great player at the end of your career, you gotta get 100s away from home in ALL conditions. And watching Jaiswal very closely over the last couple weeks, he CAN get 100s everywhere and I think he will be a GREAT of the game one day!”
With his hundred against the Three Lions at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Saurashtra, Yashasvi Jaiswal took his tally of runs in the ongoing five-match series to over 400. This made him the first Team India batter since 2018 to breach the 400-run barrier against England in a Test series. The southpaw has accumulated 435 runs in three Tests against England so far.
Previously, former India captain Virat Kohli scored 593 runs in English conditions in 2018, and a year earlier, he amassed 655 runs against the same side at home.
In addition to joining Virat Kohli in a select pool of Team India batters who have compiled more than 400 runs against England in a series, Yashasvi Jaiswal became the joint seventh-quickest Indian batter to reach the landmark of three centuries in Test cricket. Like Virender Sehwag and Sanjay Manjrekar, the left-handed batter took 13 knocks to hit his third ton in the whites.
Remarkably, Yashasvi Jaiswal's innings witnessed a stunning turnaround as a sedate and conventional Test knock quickly turned into a blitzkrieg, which left the England bowlers to search for all types of answers.
During the initial part of his innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal allowed his senior partner and captain Rohit Sharma to take charge as he relied more on defense than offense. After Rohit Sharma lost his wicket for 19, the Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer began opening his shoulders just a bit.
Before Rohit Sharma's dismissal, Yashasvi Jaiswal only made 9 runs off 39 deliveries and struggled to time the ball like he normally does.
Rohit Sharma's departure seemed to have triggered something in the 22-year-old as he looked to assert himself at the crease.
However, he went on an all-out offensive in the 27th over as he smashed the veteran James Anderson for two boundaries and a six in succession.
From here on, Yashasvi Jaiswal didn't look back as he completely dominated the proceedings with the bat in the middle. To accomplish his mission, he employed the full repertoire of his shots – cut, hook, pull, paddled, and reverse sweeps to rattle the English bowlers.
In the process, he brought up his second Test hundred in as many matches after his historic double-century in the previous game in Visakhapatnam.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's performance earned praise from former England batter Nick Knight, who described his knock as “extraordinary”.
“It was an extraordinary innings, wasn't it? It was like a two-toned innings, just making sure that the side was safe. And then all of a sudden, just pressing the accelerator and playing some unbelievable cricket shots, really. I mean, the talent of the young man is sort of complete talent, really. When you look at Test match cricket, one of the first things you look for is how he does go up here? You know, can he cope with that? And with that absolutely massive tick, he's got all those options covered. Is he ok against spin? Obviously, absolutely fine,” Nick Knight said on Jio Cinema.
“So you look at the complete game that he's got, and you think of a massive future. I really enjoyed watching the partnership with him and Shubman Gill. I mean, for all that we're thinking about what might be ahead for India, they are two absolute gems that we are going to enjoy watching these two for a long time,” he added.
On the other hand, ex-India wicketkeeper-batter Parthiv Patel reckoned that James Anderson's expensive over turned the tide in India's favor.
“Everything changed after that one over from (James) Anderson. You saw a six with a hook shot in that over and then a few big shots. He understood that England were not trying to get him out,” Parthiv Patel stated.
“You change gears immediately when you realize that the bowlers are not trying to get you out and Yashasvi Jaiswal did that. Changing gears is extremely necessary and that's why we repeatedly say that this player is special. He takes full advantage whenever it seems like the bowlers are under pressure,” he elaborated.
“You need to understand your game and along with that, the most important thing is to understand the direction in which the match is going. You saw that in Jaiswal's hundred today. The way he scored the double hundred and the 80 runs in the first Test, you got to see different approaches in all of them,” Parthiv Patel continued.
“The one common thing in all of them was match awareness, that when he can score runs and when he needs to respect the bowlers who are bowling well. Match awareness is a huge sign of a mature player and you only get that when you have scored a lot of runs in domestic cricket,” the former India cricketer explained.
Despite Yashasvi Jaiswal's three-figure score, India suffered a huge setback at the fag-end of their innings as he was forced to retire hurt due to back spasms. Minutes before he left the ground, Yashasvi Jaiswal looked in excruciating pain and even called for the physio for treatment. But after the physio's assessment, he decided to leave the pitch – with his score reading 104.
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