Last Update: March 01, 2023, 18:44 IST
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a sensational double century (Twitter/@BCCIDomestic)
The duo put on 371 runs for the second wicket, before both were dismissed in quick succession at the end of the day.
Yashasvi Jaiswal reaffirmed his status as the next big thing to come out of Mumbai’s famed batting stable as his magnificent double century remained in the making. India Scored 381 for 3 against Madhya Pradesh on the first day of the Irani Cup on Wednesday.
Jaiswal’s 213 off 259 balls was followed by opener Abhimanyu Easwaran’s 154 (240 balls) as skipper Mayank Agarwal missed out on the run-feast on the batting belt.
The duo put on 371 runs for the second wicket, before both were dismissed in quick succession at the end of the day.
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While Iswaran reached a hundred before Jaiswal, the Bengal right-hander paled in comparison to the Mumbai southpaw’s royal shot selection and the way he took on two MP spinners – off-break bowler Saransh Jain (0/103 in 24 overs) dominated and left. Arm spinner Kumar Karthikeya (0/90 in 20 overs).
Both the spinners failed to hit the right lengths throughout the day and fell short on most occasions. There was no pressure on the batsmen as they failed to stop the scoreboard from ticking, hitting 47 fours and five sixes.
MP bowlers toiled hard but stand-in skipper Himanshu Mantri had no answer for Jaiswal, who scored 265 runs with a century in the Irani Cup game in the Duleep Trophy final.
Jaiswal has had an underwhelming Ranji Trophy season, with one century in five matches and only 315 runs at an average of 45, well below his impressive career average of 81 in 15 first-class games.
Despite not being among the top 50 run-scorers in Ranji Trophy, Jaiswal was selected in the Rest of India squad purely because the selectors and head coach Rahul Dravid had faith in his ability. He is someone who, like Shubman Gill, has the potential to be fast-tracked to the top level of international cricket.
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At this time there may be no vacancy in the Indian Test team, but once World With the Test Championship (WTC) cycle over, Cheteshwar Pujara could be phased out and India will no longer dominate the No.3 position in the international set-up.
The difference between Jaiswal and Easwaran was very deep. While Easwaran punished the bad balls, Jaiswal did not let the good balls go unpunished. Jaiswal hit 30 fours and five sixes during his innings.
There were back-foot punches, there were lofted shots but it was back-to-back boundaries from Avesh Khan just before the final hour of the day during the opening day’s play.
There was a delivery, pitched on the back of length and slightly on the back foot but Jaiswal made enough room for himself and used the pace of the delivery to play a deft back cut behind point for a boundary.
The immediate next delivery was a bouncer from Avesh and he turned back and played the perfect ramp shot.
His double century came when he followed a rank tall expectation off part-time spinner Shubham Sharma and hit him for a four to bring up his double century in just 230 balls. To celebrate his milestone, he smashed Saransh into the long-off stands for his third six.
In his short career, he has crossed the 50-run mark 10 times and out of those 10 innings, he has converted them into three-figure figures on eight occasions.
Easwaran, who has been in Team India for a few years now, brought up his 22nd first-class hundred, hitting 17 fours and two sixes in the innings.
Abbreviated Score: Rest of India 381/3 in 87 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 213, Abhimanyu Easwaran 154, Avesh Khan 2/51) vs MP.
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)