India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Yashasvi Jaiswal after the hosts dominated the opening day of the first Test match against England at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday.
After England were skittled out for 246, India ended the opening day in a dominating position at 119-1, with Jaiswal and Shubman Gill unbeaten on 76 and 14 runs respectively.
The left-hander took the attack to England bowlers, particularly debutant Tom Hartley, smashing the left-arm orthodox spinner for 44 runs off just 26 balls. Jaiswal scored nine fours and three sixes in his blistering knock of 76 runs off just 70 balls.
The southpaw added 80 runs with Rohit Sharma to put India in a commanding position. The 22-year-old showed no respite to Tom Hartley whenever the debutant erred in line and length.
Jaiswal has scored 392 runs in five Test matches at an impressive average of 76 and he has shown the skills to go a long way in his career.
Ashwin compared Jaiswal with India wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant, who is currently out of action.
Ashwin said in an interview with official broadcaster after the day’s end play, “That’s the beauty of playing this sport at this level. Somebody breaks through the system, doesn’t have any excess baggage, had a great time in the IPL, had a wonderful start to his first-class cricket. He’s literally not put a foot wrong. He’s walked into Test cricket, he’s taken it like a fish to water. His carefree approach is enabling him to play some wonderful shots. I am quite enjoying it. I get a feeling sometimes when he’s batting, I am seeing Rishabh Pant there. Both of them bat similarly to the left-arm spinner. Jaiswal has got a lot of shots, his range is pretty wide and the fearless approach at the moment is serving him really well.”
The veteran spinner said it was imperative to vary the pace and be consistent in line and length to keep the opposition at bay.
Ashwin concluded, “You need to mix your pace up and be extremely consistent for you to not be giving runs in this pitch. 240 was a very very good competitive total I thought. When we left the field, I was thinking probably 30-40 runs more than what we would have liked.”
India trail by 127 runs at the end of the day’s play and Jaiswal will look to continue his good show on the second day.
