Michael Atherton in awe of Yashasvi Jaiswal after Hyderabad heroics

India and England are facing each other at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium in Hyderabad for the first Test of the five-match series. After bowling out England for 246 runs, India dominated the final session of the day with the bat as youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal made England taste their own medicine. India put up a dominating performance against England on the first day of the Test on Thursday, January 25.

Yashasvi Jaiswal remained unbeaten after the first day’s play and helped India put up 119 runs on board in just 23 overs for the loss of just one wicket. He put up 80 runs for the first wicket with the Indian skipper Rohit Sharma. Yashasvi Jaiswal particularly took on debutant spinner Tom Hartley, who was hit for a six by the opener in the very first over of the latter’s Test career.

Former England cricketer and broadcaster Michael Atherton lauded the 22-year-old opener and said that he put England on the back foot right from the start. Speaking on Sky Sports Atherton said that it was a tough start to the five-match Test series for the England side led by Ben Stokes.

“It was a great day of cricket. It was a tough day for England, they definitely came off second best today, in particular, because of what happened right at the end of the day when the young lad Jaiswal really played aggressively. He really got stuck into Tom Hartley on debut, an inexperienced player, but it was a definite attempt to get after Hartley on debut,”  Atherton told Sky Sports at the end of the Day 1 in Hyderabad.

Yashasvi Jaiswal Is A Very Confident Player, Says Michael Atherton

Yashasvi Jaiswal hit 10 boundaries and 3 sixes in his innings and scored 80 off 74 deliveries before getting out to Joe Root at the start of the second day’s play. India started the second day at 119/1, trailing by 127 runs, and is expected to take the lead within the second session. Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed his second half-century in Test cricket and impressed everyone with his first innings on Indian soil in red-ball cricket.

Michael Atherton called Yashasvi Jaiswal a confident batter and said that he had a tough time with Tom Hartley on the latter’s Test debut. Tom Hartley was hit for a six in his very first over by the young batter. The 22-year-old Jaiswal produced his show of ‘Jais-Ball’ as an answer to England’s Bazball approach

“Jaiswal, England supporters and bowlers won’t have seen as much of him. They got a look at him today and he looks like a really confident young lad. He played with real confidence and poise today and just took the game on. Seizing the moment, putting England on the back foot. Stokes would have loved for Hartley to ease his way in on debut but Jaiswal had other ideas,” concluded the former cricketer on the matter.

India has not lost a Test series at home since 2012 and the way they have started the first Test, it is looking like they will be beating England easily, taking advantage of home conditions. England was the last team to win a Test series in India and they will hope to repeat their performance of 2012.