New Delhi: The Indian cricket team has found a new star in Yashasvi Jaiswal, the left-handed opener who has been in sensational form in the ongoing home Test series against England. Jaiswal, who made his debut in the first Test in Chennai, has scored 712 runs in nine innings so far, with three centuries and two fifties. He also became the first Indian to score 1000 runs in his first nine Tests, and the second-fastest in terms of innings, behind only Sir Don Bradman.
In the first innings of the fourth and final Test in Dharamsala, Jaiswal smashed three sixes in a single over off England spinner Jack Leach, en route to his half-century. With this, he surpassed the legendary Sachin Tendulkar as the Indian batsman with the most sixes in a Test series against England. Jaiswal has hit 26 sixes in the series, while Tendulkar had hit 25 sixes in the 2012-13 series, which was also the highest by any Indian in a Test series against any opposition.
Jaiswal’s six-hitting prowess has pushed Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, to the third spot in the list of most sixes in a Test series by an Indian. Sharma had hit 22 sixes in the 2019-20 series against South Africa, while former all-rounder Kapil Dev and current wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant had hit 21 sixes each in a series against England, in 1981-82 and 2020-21 respectively.
Jaiswal, who is only 22 years old, has a chance to add to his tally of runs and sixes in the second innings of the Dharamsala Test, as India looks to seal the series with a win. He is also close to breaking the record for most runs by an Indian in a single Test series, which is held by Sunil Gavaskar. Gavaskar had scored 774 runs in the 1970-71 series against West Indies, and 732 runs in the 1978-79 series against the same team. Jaiswal needs 63 more runs to surpass Gavaskar’s second-best tally, and 125 more runs to eclipse his best.
