Jaiswal rewrites Indian record books during quick half-century in fifth Test against England

Friday, 8 March 2024 00:06 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Apart from giving his side a healthy start, Jaiswal set several new milestones during day one of the fifth Test match.

In the fifth and final Test of the ongoing series against England in Dharamsala, India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for a brisk 57 on the opening day.

After England were bowled out for 218 in the first innings, India were off to a solid start in their batting assay. A century partnership between openers Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma helped them to 135 at the end of the day’s play.

Jaiswal’s was the only wicket to fall on any one for India, with the opener dismissed for a quickfire 57. However, he rewrote the record books during the feisty innings.

In the 15th over, he smashed England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir past backward square leg, to bring up 1000 Test runs. This made him the second-fastest India batter to the landmark in terms of innings batted.

During this knock, he also became the fastest to 1000 Test runs as an India opener. The next best is his current opening partner, Rohit Sharma.

Jaiswal had a defensive start but took off with three sixes in Bashir’s opening over. He finished with three sixes in the innings, and this helped him to a tally of 26 sixes against England. He now has the most Test sixes by an Indian batter against a particular opponent.

Before being dismissed, Jaiswal also managed to cross the 700-run mark for the series. This made him just the second Indian player to score more than 700 Test runs in a Test series. Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar is the only other player to achieve this feat (twice).

Gavaskar scored 774 runs against the West Indies in his debut series in 1971. In the 1978/79 season, he scored 732 runs at home against the same opposition.

Jaiswal (712 runs) has one more innings to play in the series and can still overtake Gavaskar for the India record.

Earlier in the day, spinners helped India take control in the first innings. Kuldeep Yadav was exceptional in an extended spell in the second session, finishing with his fourth Test five-wicket haul. He also crossed 50 Test wickets during this five-for, making him the first-ever slow left-arm unorthodox spinner from India to reach the feat.

Ravichandran Ashwin also picked 4/51 in the first innings of his 100th Test.