Year-end duel: Jaiswal braces for big challenge in Australia
The young opener will look to shine against Bangladesh and NZ at home, but the defining series will be against the Aussies later in the year
New Delhi: For any young Indian batter aiming to make strides in Test cricket, a tour of Australia is a baptism of fire like no other. The bowlers are at you all the time, backed up by cussing, snarling fielders who are unsparing in their intensity and hostility. The sun is harsh, the outfields hard, the surfaces still faster and bouncier than anywhere else, and the brash, beer-chugging crowds never miss an opportunity to take a dig.
It is, in essence, the sort of experience that can make or break you. You can either be spurred by the challenge and come through with flying colours. Like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Virat Kohli did. Or you can be overawed by it all and fade away. There are too many of these examples to list here.
So, how will Yashasvi Jaiswal fare in his maiden tour of Australia later this year? For some context, Jaiswal, 22, has been the breakout star of India’s Test team over the past 12 months. He took guard as a Test cricketer against West Indies in Roseau in July 2023 and racked up 171 in his very first knock in creamy white flannels. It was a knock that told us of Jaiswal’s patience and perseverance, given that he consumed 387 balls and spent more than eight hours at the crease for this effort.
And then during the home Tests against England earlier this year, Jaiswal unleashed his more belligerent side, hitting hundreds and sixes for fun on his way to a record-breaking 712 runs in nine innings. It immediately put him on a pedestal in Indian cricket alongside Sunil Gavaskar, as the only two Indians to amass more than 700 runs in a Test series.
Jaiswal’s smashing start to his Test career means he has 1028 runs in nine matches at an average of 68.53. His ability is undisputed and penchant for runs undeniable; the question that will follow Jaiswal in the coming months, even when he plays against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home, is whether he can score runs in Australia. Success in those conditions has been so rare, after all, that it immediately separates you from the rest.
The Australians, interestingly, are talking up Jaiswal already. If there’s a bit of gamesmanship involved to put pressure on the young left-hand opener, ace off-spinner Nathan Lyon is leading the way. “I haven’t come across him [Jaiswal] yet, but that will be a massive challenge for all us bowlers,” Lyon said during a media interaction in Australia. “The way he played against England, I watched that quite closely and thought that was quite amazing.”
Lyon is the most successful wicket-taker in the world right now, but he is taking in every ounce of information he can to have an edge in his duels with Jaiswal during the Australian summer. That has involved talking to young England left-arm spinner Tom Hartley — they are currently teammates for Lancashire in the County Championship — about his experiences in India a few months ago.
“I had some really good chats with Hartley about different ways he went about it to different guys which I found quite interesting,” Lyon said.
More praise for Jaiswal came from former Australia opener Matthew Hayden. “I think he’s a package. Yes, his strokeplay is superb. His ability, in particular, to hit on the up through the covers is phenomenal,” Hayden told reporters in Mumbai on Wednesday.
As much as Jaiswal’s flamboyant stroke-making evokes excitement, the longest format calls for an appropriate balance to be struck.
“(But) that’ll also have its vulnerabilities,” Hayden said. “I’m looking forward to seeing how he adjusts on bouncy tracks. We did notice a few times in the IPL that he’s a very hard hitter of the ball — (with the) pull shots in particular. But that’ll be challenged by three world-class speedsters, assuming they’re all fit, and on much bigger grounds as well. You can get caught easily, three-quarters of the way in the fence. So, there are little adjustments that world-class players like Jaiswal will make for sure.”
If there’s a note of caution for Jaiswal, it arises from his scores in the away series against South Africa at the end of last year. On extremely spicy pitches where opening the batting was a lottery, Jaiswal’s highest score in four innings was 28. But in his final knock of that series, in a small chase of 79, a glimpse of his character shone through as he took the attack to the South Africans with six fours in 23 deliveries.
More of that character, combined with technique, patience and judgement — all of which he has displayed in his burgeoning career, will have to be on show for Jaiswal to thrive in the school of hard knocks that Test cricket, particularly in Australia, is.
