With 266 runs in his first three innings, one would assume Yashasvi Jaiswal ticked all the boxes in his debut series for India, but former captain Sunil Gavaskar feels the 21-year-old perhaps got a little complacent leading to his dismissal in the second game at Trinidad. Jaiswal had a dream start to his Test career, when he became the 17th India batter to slam a century on debut. He looked set for a double-hundred before getting out caught behind for a solid 171.
In the second Test too, a century looked imminent for Jaiswal, but shortly after completing his fifty, the India youngster chased a wide delivery and nicked it to second slip for 57. With the wicket tailor made for batting, Gavaskar, writing for Mid-Day, reckons Jaiswal missed out on an opportunity to make it two out of two, especially given how Virat Kohli cashed in with a century in his 500th Test.
"Virat Kohli celebrated his 500th international appearance with a century. After seeing the first few deliveries it was apparent there was no devil in the pitch and a batter had to be overconfident or complacent to miss out on a hundred. Jaiswal lost patience and reached out to a widish half-volley and was caught at deepish backward point and Rohit didn't quite go to the pitch of the ball to be bowled," Gavaskar mentioned in his column for Mid-Day.
Gavaskar disappointed with empty stadiums in West Indies
With three high-profile series taking place in three different parts of the world – the Ashes and Pakistan vs Sri Lanka being the other two – Gavaskar was a tad critical of the India vs West Indies Tests given just how one-sided it has been. England and Australia are fighting tooth and nail at the Ashes 2023, while the PAK-SL Galle Test too witnessed see-saw battles. But the two-Test series in the Caribbean has been one-way traffic, with India wrapping up the first Test before rain took stoke what was expected to a riveting day of cricket. The stadiums have remained so empty that the stump mic was able to pick up almost everything that was being said by players.
{{/usCountry}}With three high-profile series taking place in three different parts of the world – the Ashes and Pakistan vs Sri Lanka being the other two – Gavaskar was a tad critical of the India vs West Indies Tests given just how one-sided it has been. England and Australia are fighting tooth and nail at the Ashes 2023, while the PAK-SL Galle Test too witnessed see-saw battles. But the two-Test series in the Caribbean has been one-way traffic, with India wrapping up the first Test before rain took stoke what was expected to a riveting day of cricket. The stadiums have remained so empty that the stump mic was able to pick up almost everything that was being said by players.
{{/usCountry}}"Though Pakistan are the better-balanced team, the Lankans are fighting it out and not giving up till the last ball is bowled. In England too, the series is taking an interesting turn with England at the end of the third day's play showing why they are a different team than the one that donned the colours two years back," mentioned Gavaskar.
"In Trinidad though it looked so one-sided that there are barely a few hundred people at the ground to support the home team the West Indies. Most of those are the Indians living overseas who have come to see their favourite Team India. They were not disappointed as they saw a good opening stand between skipper Rohit Sharma and newcomer Yashasvi Jaiswal."Gavaskar