Resolute hundreds from Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Shubman Gill propelled India to a commanding 359/3 on Day 1 of the first Test against England at Headingley, Leeds.
Put to bat on a Yorkshire pitch that had an even covering of grass, Jaiswal and KL Rahul stitched a 91-run opening stand before England took two wickets in six balls on the stroke of lunch threatening to derail India. That prompted an even stronger response from the visitors, with Jaiswal adding 129 runs with Gill before being cleaned up by Ben Stokes in the 53rd over. Dug in by then, Gill shepherded the innings with impressive doggedness that was countered by an entertaining fifty from Rishabh Pant, as the captain and vice-captain added another 138 runs to pile more misery on England.
More than just the numbers, this was a day that turned out to be better than what India were collectively hoping for after the retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. The reaction has been stupendous. Jaiswal now has hundreds in his first Test in the West Indies, in India, Australia and England. Gill becomes only the fourth Indian after Vijay Hazare (1951), Sunil Gavaskar (1976) and Virat Kohli (2014) to score a hundred in his first innings as captain. An unprecedented dilemma over the No. 3 position yielded a slightly surprising debut of B Sai Sudharsan, a tryst that lasted just four balls, but that was not to undo any of the good work the rest of the batters did.
India’s openers set the template, not only providing their side with a solid base to build upon, but establishing a model of patience and judiciousness that the following batters promised to emulate. Barring Pant of course, who charted his innings with a range of improvised strokes, skipping down to Ben Stokes and swatting the ball over his head, refusing to respect Shoaib Bashir’s off breaks, paddling and pulling but also showing the presence of mind to not go overboard all the time.
Showstopping act was Jaiswal’s hundred though, a riveting display of off-side strokeplay with only nine of those 100 runs coming from the leg side. The only time Jaiswal looked a bit wobbly was when Brydon Carse struck him in the ribs by Brydon Carse.
Before and after that, Jaiswal was happily dictating the flow of runs, cutting and driving with pomp. So spooked were England that they burned an lbw review on a Josh Tongue delivery from around the wicket that had pitched outside leg stump. Stunned into submission, England later couldn’t go for a leg-before review because Brydon Carse had overstepped while bowling a ball that to the naked eye felt like Jaiswal had got his bat down to first.
Jaiswal took his time getting to fifty, but the acceleration thereafter was scary as his second 50 took just 48 balls. The way Jaiswal got to his hundred too was dramatic. On 91, with three balls left in Carse’s over, he cut him hard through point for a boundary before going through the covers for another four. Last ball of that over, Jaiswal rocked back to dab the ball and started celebrating his hundred while still completing the single.
