Jaiswal makes mark with another ton

The thing with Jaiswal, though, is that he doesn’t go gung-ho irrespective of the context. He knows his strengths well, who to take on and who not to. When Mark Wood came on for a short burst, sending in bouncer after bouncer, Jaiswal was covering the line and defending the pacer with a straight bat and off the backfoot. When he eventually found some teeny tiny bit of width to free the arms, he slashed a back-of-length delivery through the off-side to get the three-figure mark. His second in this series, fourth overall. The trademark celebration followed with dressing room on his feet and the captain — Rohit — cheering him on. A 122-ball century after being on 19 from 54 at the start of the session.

There is a reason why Jaiswal has been fast-tracked, there is a reason why he is looked at as one of the few all-format talents in the country. In his 22nd first-class match and seventh Test, he had crossed the three-figure mark for the 12th time. The conversion rate is such that he has only four fifties, and as for consistency, the one on Saturday was his 16th 50-plus score in 38 innings. With this century, he also became only the second Indian since Rohit to score more than 400 runs in a home Test series in the last decade. With Gill, who had crossed his fifty, for company, he took India’s lead past 300. However, he could not see the day through. Complaining some issue with his back, Jaiswal had to retire with 104 runs next to his name.

India would lose Rajat Patidar to yet another bizarre soft dismissal, but Gill held fort as they finished the day with 196/2 and a 322-run lead on board.

While there is no further update on Jaiswal at the moment, India would hope that he is all right and can take field if needed. After all, as Ben Duckett- a centurion himself, said on Saturday evening, “he is a superstar in making, and he is in really good form at the moment.”

Indeed, he is. And Yashasvi Jaiswal is just getting started.