New Delhi: Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal played a breezy knock in the team’s pursuit of an arduous chase of 359 runs against New Zealand in the ongoing second Test played at the Maharashtra Cricket Stadium on Saturday. The left-handed batter scored 77 runs from 65 balls to lead India’s fightback on the low turning track in Pune.
The youngster had clear intentions to go after the bowlers as he smashed senior man Tim Southee for a six and a four in the first over. From that point, he was confident in his shots and clever with his jagged-footwork. He put the New Zealand bowlers under extreme pressure with his brisk scoring moment taking India past the 100-run mark in just the 16th over.
Jaiswal was unfazed after India lost the wickets of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill for minuscule contributions in the high-voltage chase. The Mumbai player whipped off the backfoot, charged down the pitch for a maximum, cut and slapped the balls against the spinners and toyed with the lengths of pacers. He slammed nine boundaries and three sixes en route to his eighth Test half-century.
Despite getting into the rhythm, it took an erred moment from the southpaw to perish. Playing against the drift of New Zealand left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, Jaiswal prodded forward to defend and found a leading edge getting carried to Daryl Mitchell in the slip region. He was disappointed for not taking forward his fiery start into a humungous knock.
India in trouble after Pant removed for nought
Rishabh Pant walked into the crease after Jaiswal’s dismissal in the 22nd over, but the former couldn’t last long on the pitch. A poor call from Virat Kohli after tapping the ball near the backward point left Pant short of his crease. Santner was quick to collect and throw towards keeper Tom Blundell, who didn’t err in dislodging the stumps to send Pant for a three-ball duck.
