Yashasvi Jaiswal equals Sunil Gavaskar’s massive feat on Day 1 of 5th IND vs ENG Test
Young Team India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his terrific batting form on Day 1 of the fifth Test against England in Dharamsala on Thursday, March 7.
He smashed 57 off 58 in India’s first innings to join Sunil Gavaskar as the only two Indian batters to score more than 700 runs in a bilateral Test series. Gavaskar amassed 700 runs twice in a bilateral Test series. He scored 774 runs in four Tests in the West Indies in 1970-71 and 732 runs in six Tests, also against the Windies, at home in the 1978-79 season.
Following his half-century on Thursday, Jaiswal has 712 runs in the ongoing Test series at an average of 89, with two double centuries and three fifties. With his knock, the left-hander also broke Virat Kohli's record (655 runs) for the most runs by an Indian against England in a Test series.
Before being stumped off Shoaib Bashir on Day 1 of the Dharamsala Test, he also became the second-fastest Indian batter to complete 1,000 runs in Test cricket.
The 22-year-old took only 16 innings to reach 1,000 runs in Test cricket. Among Indian players, only Vinod Kambli (14 innings) reached the landmark quicker. In terms of games played to reach 1,000 Test runs, Jaiswal is on top.
He reached the landmark in nine Tests, beating out Sunil Gavaskar and Cheteshwar Pujara (11).
Overall, he's joint-second, along with Everton Weekes, Herbert Sutcliffe and George Headley, to score 1,000 runs in Test cricket in terms of games played. Not surprisingly, Don Bradman (seven) heads the list.
Jaiswal is the fourth youngest Indian batter to reach the 1,000-run mark in Tests, after Sachin Tendulkar, Kapil Dev and Ravi Shastri.
Jaiswal has made a terrific start to his Test career
While these are still early days, the fact is that Jaiswal has made a sensational start to his Test career. Playing in his ninth Test, he has scored 1,028 runs at an average of 68.53, with three hundreds.
Jaiswal hammered 171 on Test debut against the West Indies in Roseau and followed it up with a half-century in Port of Spain.
In the ongoing Test series against England, he has had scores of 80, 209, 214, 73, 37 and 57. He has been dismissed for under 20 only thrice.