Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy | Yashasvi Jaiswal: Cavalier but calculated gambler

Birmingham: Watching Yashasvi Jaiswal bat, especially when he’s in full flow, is like watching a game of poker. For the casual onlooker, he may appear like a gambler, but the wily youngster knows exactly how to call a bluff and when to lay the cards on the table. It’s a unique skill, partly innate and largely acquired, and Jaiswal is raking in the moolah with it.

Take the 87 off 107 balls he scored in the first innings of the ongoing second Test at Edgbaston on Wednesday, where he toyed with Ben Stokes’ smart field placements, literally forcing the England skipper to alter them and then using them to his advantage. It needed plenty of risk-taking and precise shot-making, but the 23-year-old, who has made a smashing start to international cricket with five centuries and 11 half-centuries in 21 Tests, was up for the challenge, only falling short with the ton in sight.

After Jaiswal survived a probing first hour in challenging conditions, Stokes, one of the most intelligent cricketers in the world, figured the southpaw would go for his shots in a bid to up the tempo. Jaiswal is generally an extremely busy batter who doesn’t like getting cowed down, and Stokes laid the traps for the Uttar Pradesh-born Mumbaikar.

Packing on-side

First, Stokes packed the on-side, particularly the cover region, with at least three fielders and bowled full around the off stump. There were three in the slip cordon too. He literally tested Jaiswal’s strength, which, like most left-handers, is scoring on the off-side. Jaiswal, an extremely confident batter who rose up the ranks through sheer grit and grind, countered Stokes’ plans by driving the ball in the minutest of gaps. And when the bowlers pitched a little short, he stood up to slap, cut, or punch them.

Stokes then tried the short-ball trap. He placed two fielders almost close to each other at deep fine leg and asked his bowlers to dig them short. Jaiswal was ready for that too, showing no fear in playing the pull short. He knew where the fielders were placed and found the gaps on those occasions too. It was a calculated gamble paying off at its best.

Jaiswal was brilliant with his running between the wickets, forcing fielders sitting on the edge of the infield to come forward, literally toying with Stokes’ plans.

Eventually, Stokes had his man, but that innocuous ball was there to be hit, and Jaiswal just missed connecting it strongly, a rare lapse in a top-class innings filled with brilliant timing and solid temperament.

“I score runs whenever there is an opportunity,” Jaiswal said at the post-day press conference. “That’s what I was thinking when I was batting. But initially, when they were bowling really well with the new ball and the wicket was a bit down, so I was just trying to play as much as I could that time. After that, I started to play my shots. Oppositions will always have a plan, and my job is to find a solution.”

With 1989 runs in 39 innings at an average of 55.25 and striking the ball at 66.01, Jaiswal is finding a solution more often than not.