Ashwin impressed by Jaiswal’s transition
Hyderabad, January 25
Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is in awe of Yashasvi Jaiswal’s batting in only his fifth Test, saying the youngster has not put a foot wrong in his 76-run knock against England and has taken to the five-day format “like a fish to water”.
Jaiswal remained unbeaten after playing 70 balls, hitting nine boundaries and three sixes on the opening day of the first Test. Along with skipper Rohit Sharma (24), he shared 80 runs for the opening stand to take India to 119/1 in their reply to England’s 246.
“He (Jaiswal) had a great time in the IPL, had a wonderful start in First-Class cricket. I am quite enjoying it. I am seeing Rishabh Pant there. His fearless cricket is serving him well,” Ashwin said.
“Yashasvi has not put a foot wrong, he has taken to Test cricket like a fish to water,” the senior spinner added.
Electing to bat, England were 108/3 after 28 overs at lunch. But they lost the plot as the day progressed.
“It was pretty interesting in the first session, maybe there was a bit of moisture. Because of the early moisture, there was enough speed. Then it slowed down. Not enough speed to carry through to the slips,” Ashwin said.
For Axar Patel, the best part of Jaiswal’s entertaining knock was the manner in which he completely unsettled England’s troika of spinners.
“We enjoyed the way Yashasvi was batting and he took on the spinners from the very first over. It was very good to unsettle them early,” said Axar.
Aggression surprises Eng
Opener Ben Duckett believed that England’s first-innings total of 246 was above par and said they were not expecting Indian openers Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma to play belligerent cricket from the word go on the first day.
“I think we’re over par. It was a tricky Day 1 pitch with consistent spin from earlier on. (Ben) Stokes was fantastic. I just said come down Day 3, Day 4, that could be a match-winning knock if that pitch keeps getting harder to bat on,” said Duckett.
Duckett was quick to give credit to the Indian openers for producing a rollicking stand, and also considered it as a hint to the gradually deteriorating nature of the pitch.
“They played really well and were very attacking. You know, they don’t always go about it like that. So, to go about it that way it shows that they probably think the pitch is going to get quite a bit worse,” said Duckett.
The 29-year-old Kent batter defended the use of sweeps and reverse sweeps by his colleagues. “We weren’t reckless today. I thought we played well at times and people who normally strike at 150 were dug in and rotated pretty well,” he said.
