India vs England: Why a Yashasvi Jaiswal hundred prompted Ben Stokes to high-five him

There are two Yashasvi Jaiswals cohabiting harmoniously in the young Indian opener. Until that moment in the 27th over of the innings when he decided he had had enough of poking around and exploded against James Anderson to turn the tide in India’s favour, Jaiswal – the classical Test batsman – was on show. Of all the youngsters in the Indian team, he has the most compact defensive routine and has the air of a batsman who has faced thousands of balls in his formative years. The muscle memory of a dour veteran batsman and the confidence of been-there-done-that-a-million-times come across in the way everything aligns in his bat flow – from the head to the feet.

And yet, when the mood seizes him, Jaiswal can transform into the T20 beast that he is. But what he has impressively done is mix the two. Even as he defends compactly, his bat-flow is worth watching when he attacks the ball he deems attackable. He goes all-in. Like a tennis player ripping the forehand in rallies, the bat gets down in a blur from the top and comes around all the way through as he absolutely hammers the ball even when he crashes it along the ground.

The third day’s play saw the two Jaiswals inhabiting separate phases, and it’s time to zoom in on the game-turning moment.

Jaisball supremacy 💯 🙌

Yashasvi Jaiswal 😍 scores another mighty ton in the #IDFCFirstBankTestSeries! ⚡️#INDvENG #JioCinemaSports #BazBowled pic.twitter.com/FTufkA6YqJ

— JioCinema (@JioCinema) February 17, 2024

Something snapped in Jaiswal around the time Anderson twirled around to screech out an LBW appeal against a tentative Shubman Gill. It was the 27th over, 16 overs after Rohit Sharma had fallen, and England were piling on the pressure. Anderson had started to move the ball – nothing extravagant but enough to get him excited, and Ben Stokes had jumped in with his attacking fields. Gill was caught on the crease, trying to nurdle the ball, but the replays showed the ball was just missing leg-stump.

Stokes moved in for the kill next ball to Jaiswal. A short straight mid-off, a short straight mid-on, a short mid-on, a short midwicket straighter than usual and a regular short midwicket swooped in, plus a square-leg. Just one wide slip.

From round the stumps, Anderson tried to surprise Jaiswal with a short ball; it was thrown back from beyond the square-leg boundary. Stokes clapped his hands and crouched at that straightish short midwicket. A short-of-length ball on the stumps arrived and Jaiswal went for an almighty heave and the top edge sailed to the third man boundary. More chatter from the fielders ensued but the next ball, another shortish one, was savagely pulled for a four.

Carnage continues

Next over, Jaiswal crash-landed a full toss from Tom Hartley over long-on and rushed down the track to repeat the punishment next ball. In a Rajkot minute, Jaiswal had begun to pile on Bazball against England.

When Rehan Ahmed came to bowl, Jaiswal pounced to ping stands behind long-on, and targeted the square boundary with a reverse-pull and a reverse-sweep. When Joe Root erred in length, Jaiswal lunged forward to take it on the full and smash it for a six.

Rajkot: India’s Yashaswi Jaiswal receives medical assistance on the third day of the third test cricket match between India and England, at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, in Rajkot, Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. (PTI Photo/Kunal Patil)

Suddenly, after that manic phase, he was into his 90s when the only period where there seemed to be a battle between his intent and execution arrived. Mark Wood went with a bumper barrage and Jaiswal first tried to sell him a dummy by acting as if he was moving to leg but sliding back to position. Wood kept his poise and fired it at his throat and Jaiswal hopped to keep it down. Two more bouncers were kept out before he backed away for real outside leg and weakly cut to point.

But he seemed to settle a touch next over, defending Root, before slapping a shortish ball from Wood to the cover point boundary. He leapt as he reached the other end, calmly removed his gloves after keeping the bat down and did what’s become his signature celebration now: the hands swoop into his lip for a kiss on the fingers before he stretches them out, still facing his dressing room.

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On 103, his back began to seize up and he slowly sank at the non-striker’s end after calling for medical attention. As he lay on his tummy, the physio worked vigorously on the lower back and stretched his left leg. Next over, the 43rd of the innings, Jaiswal pulled up again, and it seemed he was walking off with the physio when he suddenly stopped after he crossed the stumps at the other end and decided he wanted to carry on. But at the end of the next over, a message came out from the dressing room and he walked off the field.

But there was time for one final charming moment: Stokes would intervene and high-five Jaiswal, a better compliment to his knock can’t be thought of.

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