India vs England 5th Test: Yashasvi Jaiswal has a chance to go past Virat Kohli and Sunil Gavaskar’s long-standing records.
Yashasvi Jaiswal is just 1 run away from going past Virat Kohli’s second-highest tally in the list of most runs by an Indian batter in a bilateral of three or more Tests. If and when Jaiswal gets off the mark in the India vs England fifth Test at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala, starting Thursday, the left-hander will go past Kohli’s total of 655 runs, which he had scored in the home series against England in 2016-17.
India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal(REUTERS)
In four Tests, Yashasvi Jaiswal has racked up 655 runs at an average of 93.57 with two double centuries. Kohli too had smashed two double centuries in that 2016-17 series against England. If Jaiswal manages to score 38 runs in two innings combined then he will go past Kohli’s all-time best tally. The former India captain, who is missing the entire England series due to the birth of his second child, had amassed 692 runs in Australia in 2014-15.
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The kind of form Jaiswal is in, it would be a surprise if he doesn’t beat Kohli and in fact, the left-handed opening batter has a realistic chance of breaking Sunil Gavaskar’s all-time record for the highest runs in a series by an Indian. Jaiswal’s stellar show against England has already placed him in a venerated league alongside Gavaskar, Kohli, Dilip Sardesai and Rahul Dravid as the only Indian batters to amass more than 600 runs in a Test series. No Indian has scored more than 700 runs in a series other than Gavaskar, whose greatness is illustrated by the fact he did it twice against West Indies (1971 and 1978-79).
In 1971, in a series comprising four Tests, Gavaskar had only one failure — he was dismissed for 1 in the first innings of the third Test in Barbados. His other scores were 65, 67*, 116, 64*, 117*, 124 and 220, embodying the work ethic and ‘khadoos’ mentality of Bombay batters who would seldom give away a start.
Yashasvi Jaiswal very important for India in 5th Test vs England
In this series, Jaiswal has had three failures – 15 and 17 in the second innings of the first and second Tests and his lowest score of 10 came in the first innings of the third Test.
Another striking feature about Jaiswal’s superb show in this series is the rate at which he has scored all those runs. Among batters who have scored more runs than Jaiswal in a Test series, only Victor Trumper has done it at a better strike rate (87.78). Jaiswal’s strike rate (78.63) is the second-best among all batters to have crossed 650 runs in a Test series.
Jaiswal’s performance will be ever-so crucial in the final Test as the “used pitch” in Dharamsala is likely to assist the seamers with the new ball. The cold and damp conditions fueled by the untimely rains are also likely to play their part. He has played James Anderson quite well throughout this series and if he can manage to do the same again, Gavaskar’s more than five-decade-old record can be in danger, if it is not already.
