MATCH STORIES
Follow UsWhen Yashasvi Jaiswal missed the first T20I in Mohali with a mysterious spasm, many feared the worst. Skipper Rohit Sharma said at the toss that Jaiswal had not ‘pulled up well’, but the conspiracy theories that floated claimed that this ‘groin strain’ was the management’s way of keeping Jaiswal out of the XI to fit in more popular figures Rohit and Shubman Gill.
The claims were baseless, and Jaiswal was always going to return once he regained full fitness, but still, this was one of those ‘I won’t believe it until I see it’ things. Because with Indian cricket, you can never be sure about anything.
Fast forward to today in Indore, Rohit confirmed at the toss that Jaiswal was taking the place of Gill to put all speculations to rest. But on the night, Rohit was not the only one who put speculations to bed.
Jaiswal, in a staggering onslaught, showed why he’s indispensable, and made it clear why he needs to be one of the first names in this Indian T20I side.
Put simply, at this point, there is nobody in the country that can do what Jaiswal does. It’s not about the blitzes; it’s not about ‘going from ball one’. Many batters can do that.
Nobody, however, can do it with Jaiswal’s consistency, and that is precisely why he is indispensable.
Today (January 14) in Indore, Jaiswal smashed 68 off just 34 balls to take his career T20I strike rate to 163.81.
39 of these runs came inside the powerplay, off just 18 balls, which is a strike rate of 216.67. Effectively, the left-hander killed the chase of 173 inside six overs.
It’s one thing to play knocks like these occasionally, but at 22, Jaiswal has already made a habit of doing this.
In his 15-inning T20I career, Jaiswal has scored 18+ runs in the powerplay 10 times. And in these 10 instances, there have only been THREE knocks in which he’s gone at a strike rate under 150.00.
As it stands, in every fourth knock in his T20I career, Jaiswal scores 20+ runs at a strike rate over 200. 60% of the time, he notches up 20+ runs inside the first six overs while doing so at an average strike rate of 175.
Not only is this absurd. It is almost unprecedented.
This X-factor is precisely what makes him stand out and precisely why he needs to be the first opener in the team sheet at the T20 World Cup in June — even if he has an ordinary IPL 2024.
You can find runs Jaiswal makes elsewhere, but good luck finding the intent and fearlessness he brings consistently.
If it wasn’t clear already, the contest today has made it clear and reinstated the fact that Jaiswal is not only India’s best opener, but also the most important.
That leaves India with one more spot to fill, and right now, the race is between Rohit and Gill.
Gill made a bright start in Mohali before throwing his wicket away, but despite being dropped for today’s clash, he is very much in the race. That is thanks to the dreaded form of the skipper, who posted a second consecutive duck tonight.
Who among these two partners Jaiswal in the T20WC, then, might very well depend on the IPL. Should that prove to be the case, there’s a huge couple of months ahead for Rohit, who has not averaged over 30 in an IPL season since 2016.
Rohit and Gill still have all to play for, but it seems Jaiswal has already done his bit to be a certainty in the starting XI.
