Cramp is the only way England can stop rampant Jaiswal

Telegraph

7 hours ago

Want to lower a Test opener's average? Bring them to Headingley. In 81 previous Tests at the northernmost venue that is still used in the Test game, overseas openers average a paltry 29.6.
For openers from Asia, the challenge of adjusting to Headingley's initial seam movement is amplified. In 20 previous Tests in Leeds, Asia openers averaged just 23.3, and had never made a century. Such was the weight of history that Yashasvi Jaiswal met when he marked his guard on the opening morning of the England v India Test series at Headingley.
Many of those visiting openers who never scored a Test century in Leeds – Sunil Gavaskar, Saeed Anwar and Virender Sehwag among them – would have had cause to be envious of Jaiswal on the opening day. He was confronted by an attack in which only one seamer had player more than five Tests and baking hot conditions that were more Hyderabad than Headingley.
Yet Jaiswal still faced a wicket that had enough moisture to convince Ben Stokes to bowl first. And, for all the questions about England's attack, the new ball offered extensive new-ball movement. Over the first 25 overs, the new ball swung more than in 75 per cent of Tests in England, the Sky Sports statistician Benedict Bermange found.
So the success of India's openers to last all but six minutes of the opening session together should not obscure the early challenges that Headingley offered. Jaiswal slashed Brydon Carse in the air on 11, and narrowly avoided edging a Chris Woakes outswinger when he was on 19. Before he had scored another run, Jaiswal was hit on the ribs by Carse, when he was cramped up by a short ball.
These early jitters were not a harbinger of what was to come. Rather, Jaiswal's straight-driving set the template for the day. When Woakes or Josh Tongue fractionally overpitched, Jaiswal met the ball with consummate balance, a high front elbow and a nonchalant push down the ground for four.
For all the transformations in cricket since Headingley first hosted a Test, in 1899, this is a shot that connects Jaiswal with the game's ancient past. This stroke is one of Jaiswal's signatures, together with his square cut – either on the ground or in the air, depending on how his mood takes.
These foundations, together with the soft hands that he showed against the moving ball, give Jaiswal a game that is robust enough to thrive in cricket's three distinct formats. But while he scored a double-century in his fourth domestic 50-over match, and has scored an Indian Premier League half-century in a record 13 balls, you sense that the very best of Jaiswal will be seen in Test cricket.
For all that they revelled in Jaiswal's strokeplay at Headingley, few spectators would have been surprised by his regal driving. Even more impressive, perhaps, was the discipline and range of a 23-year-old playing a Test in England for the first time.
'The special part of his game is that he knows what to do when,' says Jwala Singh, Jaiswal's childhood coach in Mumbai. 'He can switch gears. He can play close to the body. He can play far from the body. He can hit sixes. He knows how to change in different conditions.'
Recognising the dangers posed by the new ball, and the opportunities to accelerate, Jaiswal took 96 balls to reach his half-century. This relative calm was the prelude to accelerating against the old ball. Even cramp in his forearm, which led Jaiswal to have two extensive bouts of treatment from the medical team, could not quell him.
As tea approached, Jaiswal's history-making arrived with a flourish. On 91, he scythed Carse through point. The bowler overcompensated; next ball, Jaiswal drove pristinely through the covers to move to 99. He only stayed there for one ball, pushing Carse in front of gully, then removing his helmet and haring off in delight.
It is a sight that England will surely see ample more both during the rest of the summer and beyond. Jaiswal already has five Test centuries at an average of 54.2; against England, that figure soars to 90.3 in six Tests.
His mastery at Headingley was such that Jaiswal effectively only needed to score in half the ground. With England trying to induce an outside edge, and bowling well outside off stump, and the player operating with a leg-stump guard, 90 of Jaiswal's 101 runs came on the off side.
Here, once again, was evidence of Jaiswal's preternatural capacity to step up. These qualities were detectable when, aged 10, he moved from rural Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai, spending three years sleeping in the groundsman's tent on the Azad Maidan while scoring runs relentlessly. Jaiswal's relish for new challenges was apparent, too, when he scored a century on his Test debut; and then when he scored a hundred in his first Test in Australia. Now, England has witnessed Jaiswal's effervescence too.
More than anything, perhaps, Jaiswal's innings – and an equally sparkling century from Shubman Gill, in his first Test at captain – was an indication of Test cricket's eternal capacity for regeneration. The sport, to be sure, is poorer for the loss of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. But in time, you suspect, the retirement of Jaiswal will be similarly lamented.