Playing his debut innings on the English ground, Jaiswal played with complete control and braved pain to reach his first England ton in 144 balls at Leeds. Yashasvi Jaiswal provided yet another testament to his increasing standing in Indian cricket by hitting his fifth Test ton on Friday.
Playing his first innings on England soil, Jaiswal played with complete control and endured pain to score his first English ton in 144 balls in Leeds. With the ton, Jaiswal is the first Indian batsman in the nation’s 93-year Test history (India first played a Test in 1932 against England at Lord’s) to have scored a ton in his first match in both England and Australia.
In the just-concluded 2024-25 Border Gavaskar Trophy, Jaiswal hammered a ton in Perth. Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a characterful hundred and skipper Shubman Gill composed a gracious fifty as India punished a lacklustre England to hit a strong 215 for two at tea on the opening day of the first Test of the five-match series here on Friday.
They were chalk and cheese, yet both Gill (58 not out) and Jaiswal (100 not out) achieved enormous success with their contrasting approaches in an unbroken 123-run partnership for the third wicket.
Jaiswal scored his 5th Test hundred off 144 balls and Gill his eighth fifty off 56 deliveries in his first Test match as India Test captain, which highlighted the varied path they took on the day.
England could be looking at this innings as a menacing early warning from Jaiswal that he could very well repeat that 712-run series against them last year in India.
It was not a Jaiswal innings of the usual sort where he just flayed the bowlers around, though he practised admirable self-control, especially outside off-stump.
The left-hander was dismissed playing in that channel a couple of times when he played for India A against England Lions in the recent tour games, but on this occasion, the 23-year-old didn’t commit the same errors.
He was also generously aided by the England bowlers, who were failing to find the correct line and length on a limp track. Their wastefulness provided the Indian batters with plenty of scoring chances. Even in his restrained avatar, Jaiswal produced some cracking shots off the shelf like a crisp off-drive off pacer Josh Tongue or a carved six off the same bowler.
