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There was a prophecy made at the start of 2020, when the world was grappled with the fear of the dreaded coronavirus, on a 17-year-old left-handed batter by Rohit Sharma. Four years later, Rohit, now a full-time all-format India captain, watched from the pavilion at the Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium in Visakhapatnam and applauded jubilantly as that same youngster, Yashasvi Jaiswal, single-handedly battled against England on Day 1 of the second match of the five-Test series with a record unbeaten knock of 179 runs.
Despite watching six wickets fall on the other end through the course of his knock, Yashasvi powered India through to 336/6 at the end of Day 1 with his second career Test century, having smashed 171 against West Indies in Dominica in his debut last year. No other India batter managed to score more than 34 runs.
The 22-year-old’s knock of 179 is now the highest individual score by an Indian batter on the opening day of a Test match against England, the joint second-highest in a day’s play against the opposition and the second-best score on the first day of a home Test, behind Wasim Jaffer’s 192* against Pakistan in 2007 at Eden Gardens.
Following the record knock, Rohit’s four-year-old post went viral on social media. It was a two-word post made in April 2020 in response to a throwback video shared by Yashasvi on his Instagram page. The video comprised highlights from his blazing 203 in Mumbai’s 39-run win against Jharkhand in their final Elite Group A match of the 2019 Vijay Hazare Trophy. At 17 years and 192 days, Yashasvi had become the first male teenager in the world to score a double-century in List-A cricket.
Rohit had responded to the video saying, “Next superstar.”
Yashasvi’s unbeaten 257-ball knock, laced with 17 boundaries and five maximums, always seemed around the corner after his fluent 80 and 74 in the opening Test against England in Hyderabad. And the fearlessness, which the left-hander had talked about after missing out a century last week, was on full display, epitomised by the four off the first delivery in the second over against Joe Root and the stunning six over long-on that brought up his hundred.
Yashasvi now aims to become the first Indian batter to score a double ton in Test cricket since Mayank Agarwal’s 243 against Bangladesh in Indore in 2019.
“I wanted to play it session by session. When they were bowling well, I just wanted to get through that spell. Initially, the wicket was damp and there was spin and bounce, with a bit of seam. However, I wanted to convert the loose balls, and play till the end. I would love to double this up, and play till the end for the team,” he said in a conversation with the broadcasters at the end of day’s play on Friday.
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