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MUMBAI: With the sensational manner in which he has scorched Test cricket so far, having raced away to 1217 runs in just 11 Tests so far at an admirable average of 64.05, including three hundreds and seven fifties, Yashasvi Jaiswal has already generated plenty of excitement in the cricketing world.
Having amassed 929 runs in eight Tests this year at 80.64 – 712 of them in the five Test-series against England in February-March – Jaiswal has been unstoppable.While he has dominated and decimated bowling attacks in India-smashing three quickfire fifties in the recently-held two-Test series against Bangladesh, the jury is still out on whether he would be able to replicate his success in Australia in the five-Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will begin at Perth on November 22, considering the pace and bounce the pitches in that country offer, and the quality of the pace attack that the hosts possess.
However, so impressed are West Indies batting legend Brian Lara and former Australian allrounder Shane Watson that they feel Jaiswal will come good in Australia too. Having scored tonnes of runs in Australia, including a mastery 277 in the Sydney in the 1991-92 series, Lara felt that Jaiswal has the game to succeed in any conditions.
“I think he’s got the ability to play in any conditions. I saw him in the Caribbean (where Jaiswal made his Test debut last year). Obviously, the pitches in Australia are slightly different, but if you take that sort of strength that you have, you’re going to play good cricket in any conditions. So, I expect to see him do well,” Lara said.
In August, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden had reckoned that Jaiswal would have to adjust his game to the pace and bounce of the wickets Down Under, but Lara felt that all the adjustment that the 22-year-old would have to make would be in the mind. rather than work on any technical aspect of his game.
“I think the adjustment is upstairs. The adjustment is your ability to back your talent in whatever conditions. You might be familiar. And I say this with a pinch of salt because conditions in India have changed. With the IPL you’ve got international players coming. And you’re feeding your players a different level of competition, which is great. So I don’t think there’s much that he has to do technically. I just think it’s all about the mental thing. Travelling away from home, playing against Australia on their shores is a different beast, but I believe that the Indian team that I’ve seen going to Australia over the last couple of occasions are very capable of winning,” Lara said during the launch of the International Masters League on Tuesday.
Backing Lara’s praise for Jaiswal, Watson said, “Top-order batters like Jaiswal have scored runs very quickly, but he hasn’t made a mistake. He hasn’t really given the opposition a chance to be able to get him out. If those types of batters do come out to Australia and play aggressively and put the pressure on the Aussie bowlers, then they can still have the same effect and they keep the game moving as well,” Watson said.
Apart from Jaiswal, the other young Indian batsman that Lara finds exciting is opener Abhishek Sharma, who played under him in Sunrisers Hyderabad, and is currently a part of India’s team in the T20I series against Bangladesh. “Two left-handers. Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma. First of all, they’re left-handers (like Lara). They’re very young. And I think they play the game in a style. Very attacking. Very stylish. Of course, the relationship I have had with them over the last couple of years has been very special. It’s great to see them go from strength to strength,” Lara said.
Having been in Brisbane in January 2021 when Rishabh Pant The ‘Prince of Trinidad’ is obviously also a big fan of Rishabh Pant, who cracked a brilliant, unbeaten 89 to fashion India’s memorable triumph in the Gabba Test on that occasion.
“Pant’s amazing. I remember spending some time with Sunil Gavaskar in Australia when India won that game at the Gabba to win the series. And that was an amazing performance by Pant. He’s also a very capable left-hander, and someone that we all love,” Lara said.
Meanwhile, Watson felt that India’s bowlers would predominantly decide their series win for the Rohit Sharma-led side in Australia. “India’s pace attack will be where they predominantly win that series. They’ve got the five power to be able to do it, but to be able to do it five Test matches in a row in Australia, they’ll have to rotate them as well,” Watson.
While they won’t get as much turn from the wickets in Australia as they do back home in India, Watson still expects India’s ace spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja to do well in the mouth-watering series.
“There’s no question, even though (Ravichandran) Ashwin obviously is a ridiculously skilled bowler in all conditions, same with (Ravindra) Jadeja, but the assistance won’t be there as consistent as it is in other parts of the world. They’ll still be effective, but how effective they’ll be, that’ll be the test and that’ll be the challenge for the Aussie batters,” Watson said.
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