Yashasvi Jaiswal’s hat-trick of sixes against James Anderson has captured the attention of Michael Atherton.
The visual of Yashasvi Jaiswal taking off his helmet, jumping in the air and soaking the atmosphere on completing his double century was easily one of the most stunning moments of the Rajkot Test, but equally captivating was the sight of the youngster belting James Anderson for a hat-trick of sixes. Jaiswal was one year old when Anderson, one of the most respected bowlers in the world, made his debut for England; hence, to see the 22-year-old whack the 41-year-old veteran with such brute force and power will go down as arguably the biggest highlight from this series.
James Anderson wasn’t spared by Yashasvi Jaiswal. (ANI-AFP)
In the 85th over of the innings, Jaiswal first swept a full toss from Anderson into the stands, before crunching him over sweeper cover. The last one was right out of Jaiswal’s power manual, as he thumped Anderson down the ground to make it three in a row. After the match, reflecting on that over, Jaiswal admitted that he absolutely loved it. And boy, why wouldn’t he? Anderson was coming off five wickets in the previous Test at Visakhapatnam and for the youngster to take him down in the manner which he did was reminiscent of Rishabh Pant’s assault on the England pacer from three years ago.
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“I think I was in a really good zone. I felt if he was going to bowl there, I would need to play my shots. He is a world class bowler and I made sure that if I were going to hit him, I did it well. I was just trying my best and I really enjoyed that,” Jaiswal told official broadcaster Jio Cinema after India’s 434-run win.
Atherton weighs in on Jaiswal
Jaiswal’s beating of Anderson took world cricket by storm, including Michael Atherton. With already over 500 runs in the series, the former captain pointed out that Ben Stokes needs to come up with a way to stop him else it could get even worse for England in the remaining two Tests. Jaiswal has been hailed by the world over, getting compared to legends like Don Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar, while Kevin Pietersen went to the extent of labelling him as a batter with ‘no weakness’. While Atherton didn’t exactly go ga-ga over Jaiswal, he did acknowledge the brute strength of the lad and said he’s never seen anyone go after Anderson like the youngster.
“Fantastic young player. Haven’t seen much of him in Test match cricket. England fans didn’t see much of him before the series but now they’ve seen enough to know that he’s a special young talent. Very hungry for runs. All three of his hundreds are over 150 – two of them doubles. He smacks the ball a long way; a powerfully built lad. He’s a modern T20 player who’s adapting to Test cricket and has the technique to do it,” Anderson said on Sky Sports.
“When he gets in, he has all the shots. Jimmy Anderson is rarely treated with such disdain like he was this afternoon when he got taken for those three consecutive sixes. So he’s a very dangerous player and England need to work out a way to get him early if they can.”
