The bubble surrounding the outrageous talent that Yashasvi Jaiswal has not burst, but the 23-year-old does cut a somewhat muddled figure as he chugs along during his first Test tour of England.
The series began on strong note for Jaiswal personally. Just as he did during the Perth Test last year, so too did Jaiswal leave us wondering what could be over the next decade as he purred to a century on day one at Edgbaston. It was a somewhat tricky time when he began that innings. There was slight cloud cover overhead – one reason that Ben Stokes chose to field – the ball was moving around, and England’s slip cordon was on alert.
But Jaiswal looked at ease in his debut innings on England soil against the Dukes ball, leaving the ball tactfully and crunching those deliveries that were slightly off their lines. In just his 20th Test match, there was Jaiswal playing a vital role with the confidence of an opener with many years in the bank. However, as we saw in Australia, the bright start to a tour has faded and shot selection is a growing pain.
In three matches this series, Jaiswal has tallied 233 runs at an average of 38.83, with a century (101) in Leeds and 87 in Birmingham. Those two innings – the second looked destined to be three figures before Jaiswal played a loose shot – came in India’s first innings of both Tests. In the second innings, Jaiswal has scores of 4, 28 and 0. The dismissal that rankles the most is the one he played during the final session of the Lord’s Test when he took on Jofra Archer and top-edged for a duck.
These are by all accounts average returns for a cricketer of immense talent, and one capable, as England will remember, of scoring double-centuries against them at Visakhapatnam and Rajkot last year. The collective failure of India’s batting in their failed chase of 193 at Lord’s has seen a chorus of criticism for Jaiswal’s awful shot against Archer, but to single out that dismissal as a catalyst for defeat is incorrect.
The bigger issues are Jaiswal not continuing after set and failing to curb his enthusiasm. He can point to a brute of a delivery from Ben Stokes shortly after he marked his first innings in England with a fine 101, but the waft that Jaiswal played to the same bowler on day one at Edgbaston, when a century was there for the taking, cannot be repeated. Ditto for the push outside off stump in India’s second innings at Headingley and the poor moment of judgement against Archer at Lord’s.
It is widely believed that opening in Tests in the 2020s has been tougher than in the previous two decades. In that regard, Jaiswal has one of the hardest roles to fulfill and he is just 23. He’s accumulated a very good record as an opener, with centuries in his first tours to Australia and England, but like his opening partner KL Rahul there is a narrative forming, albeit at a low level, that he is prone to squandering starts the longer overseas series continue.
Subtract Jaiswal’s only trip to South Africa – two Tests matches in 2023-24 – and we are left with five Tests in Australia and now three in England. He began the Australia tour with innings of 0 and 161 in the Perth victory, and from there managed 0, 24, 4, 4*, 82, 84, 10 and 22. Those twin eighties at the MCG were exceptional knocks, ended in a moment of madness and an unlucky under-edge down the leg side, respectively.
Now in England, Jaiswal has made 101, 4, 87, 28, 13 and 0. Shades of Rahul, indeed, who has so often started series with good scores only to fade away (which is why he largely averages 35 after a decade of Test cricket).
Perhaps the pain of dropping four catches during the Edgbaston Test match has had a bearing on his batting. Jaiswal was removed from the slips cordon for the Lord’s match after that sloppy outing in Birmingham and proceeded to have his worst match of the series as opener.
How Jaiswal reacts to the questions being asked by England’s pacers will be a key part of whether India, who won the second Test by a record 336 runs, and who somehow blew the Birmingham game, can respond to the heart-breaking Lord’s defeat.
