All-weather warrior: Two big series in England, Australia seal Jaiswal’s growing status as overseas specialist

NEW DELHI: During the recently concluded series against England, Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his meteoric rise in international cricket, with yet another outstanding overseas tour following a memorable Border-Gavaskar Trophy tour to Australia in 2024/25.

With his audacious shot-making, temperament, and long enough to play marathon knocks on the pitch, along with a sound technique, the tall Mumbaikar looks the perfect heir apparent to former Indian Test captain and his once opening partner Rohit Sharma. During the tour of England, Jaiswal made fans feel overawed by his ability and frustrated in equal parts, sometimes throwing away his wickets early, but making up for it big time whenever he got a chance to score.

In Australia, Jaiswal was India’s top run-getter with 391 runs in 10 innings at an average of 43.44, with a century and a fifty to his name. His best score was a 297-ball 161 at Perth’s Optus Stadium. His verbal duel with Mitchell Starc, the Aussie pace legend, irked and excited the cricketing fraternity equally. Some took it for his youthful audacity, which added spice to the rivalry, especially when the Aussie media termed him an ‘heir apparent’ to Virat Kohli, a man who made a career out of bullying Australians. Others deemed Jaiswal a little too cocky and disrespectful towards a multi-time World Cup-winning star on his first tour to the Aussie land.

After a duck dismissal against Starc to start his Australian tour, Jaiswal responded with a massive 161. Throughout the series against Starc, Jaiswal made 133 runs out of his 391 runs in 203 balls at a strike rate of over 65. He scored 20 of his boundaries and a six out of 44 fours and four sixes, just for the Aussie left-armer, never missing a chance to treat him with disdain.

While he blew hot and cold in the next two Tests, his fighting knocks of 82 and 84 at Melbourne during the Boxing Day Test gave India a faint hope of keeping the series alive. With 391 runs in Australia, Jaiswal arrived in England a much more respected figure and with plenty of expectations, especially after a 712-run series against the same opposition at home with two double tons, where he tore the English bowling apart to smithereens. A highlight included a hat-trick of sixes against James Anderson.

So, a much lighter, inexperienced bowling attack of Josh Tongue, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Chris Woakes, and skipper Ben Stokes looked like a quick snack for the left-hander. His first innings at Leeds saw him cut and slash deliveries with the precision of a ninja. While he played his delightful drives down the ground or through the covers region, the crunch of the ball sounded melodic to the ears. Jaiswal middling the bat and ball sailing interrupted to the boundary was like an artist running his pen like butter over a piece of paper to produce a beautiful piece of handwriting.

He struck a century in his first Test in England, just like he had done in the West Indies and Australia. But poor shot selection in the next innings cut short his innings at four. Then in Birmingham, he crafted a brilliant 107-ball 87, falling to English skipper Stokes while going for a lavish slash. During the second innings, Jaiswal started with fluency, but fell leg-before-wicket rather quickly for 28, before he could settle.

At Lord’s, he could score just 13 and 0, falling victim to a returning Jofra Archer, exposing himself badly against express pace. While in the first innings he edged it to the slips, a top-edge while playing a big shot dismissed him for a seven-ball duck, giving India a big blow while chasing just 193, which proved costly in hindsight. Perhaps some situational awareness and care could have helped a 20-something run. It seemed Jaiswal had sipped into the ‘Bazball’ kool-aid, which unsettled him against a fiery Archer.

In the fourth Manchester Test, Jaiswal made a fighting 107-ball 58, with 10 fours and a six, slowly returning to his scoring ways, but his ‘caught at slips’ woes continued, gifting the slip cordon their third freebie of the series and falling for a duck. The match ended in a draw.

At The Oval, another cheap dismissal in the first innings continued to frustrate the Indians, as he had more failures than big scores at that point. With England leading by 23 runs going into India’s second innings, Jaiswal put pressure right from the start with quick boundaries, but maintained restraint when needed. The result was one of his finest Test tons, 118 in 164 balls, giving India a 373-run lead and England a 374-run target. England lost the match by six runs.

In five matches, Jaiswal scored 411 runs at an average of 41.10, with two centuries and two fifties. His best score was 118 and was the ninth-highest run-getter in the series.

During the series, he fared decently against the veterans, scoring 73 runs off Chris Woakes in 134 balls across nine innings, dismissed only once, striking at 54.47 with 14 fours. Against Stokes, while he was dismissed twice in three innings, he still managed to score a total of 32 runs against him in 50 balls, striking at 64.00, with four boundaries and a six. The high-risk nature of his game makes him vulnerable, but his scoring rates reflect that he is not afraid to be at the wrong side of things with his attacking approach. The big boys being shown disdain is a constant throughout these two tours to Australia and the UK, regardless of how much they dismiss them.

After ex-Indian opener Murali Vijay, Jaiswal is the only player to have a 350-plus run debut series in Australia and England. With a combined 802 runs in 20 innings at an average of 42 with three centuries and four fifties, Jaiswal has given Indian fans a glimpse of the overseas force he could be in the coming times. (ANI)