Nine Tests. 1028 runs. A ton on debut, two double tons to follow, an average of 68.53 and striking at over 70. Yashasvi Jaiswal is the textbook definition of a prodigy. His rise has been meteoric – nay, cinematic – and the story of his childhood struggles to go with an off-field shy persona, in complete juxtaposition to his explosive batting style, only adds to the enigma.
Yashasvi isn’t the first Indian batter though to see his stock surge such in recent times. In fact, the man he replaced to take over the Test opening role, Shubman Gill, also bore traces of similar potential when he first burst onto the red-ball arena. Prithvi Shaw was another young talent that not so long ago was touted as the next big thing. Yet, none managed to reach the heights this youngster has already scaled in his fledgling career, and it is no mystery why.
First however, it is necessary to understand that what truly sets Yashasvi apart is his domination over a paramount facet of the game – spin bowling. Ahead of the Bangladesh series, the 22-year-old was averaging 112.2 against spinners at a strike rate of 75.80. His Indian Premier League numbers tell a similar story – a stupendous average of 92.25 across the last three seasons while scoring at over 150.
But there lies the caveat. On the flip side of the coin, the opener is markedly worse against pacers albeit with a small sample size. His average against seamers in Test cricket is a much more modest 39.40 and has succumbed to them nine times as compared to six times against spin. Even though this includes a disastrous tour of South Africa where the pitches were as good as strips of landmines, the IPL numbers confirm the speculation. Since 2021, Yashasvi has fallen victim to pacers 25 times in the tournament while only four times has a spinner managed to send him back to the pavilion.
The numbers alone still don’t tell the full story though, especially when you take the comparison aspect out of it. For instance, in the three Test series that Yashasvi has played so far, the top seven Indian batters have averaged a combined 38.64 against pace, with the opener averaging higher than his counterparts against both England and the West Indies. The problem begins when you dive deeper into Yashasvi’s youth career and track his unique trajectory to the top.
When Yashasvi made his debut for team India, his experience outside Asia was curiously limited to just U-19 cricket – a World Cup in South Africa and a tri-series in England. While that may seem like enough for a youngster in pace-friendly SENA conditions, especially considering that Yashasvi was the leading run-scorer at the marquee event, the truth is the tournament was played on uncharacteristic South African surfaces. The 2019/20 World Cup had been shifted to the country at the very last moment owing to political unrest in Sri Lanka, meaning it clashed with England’s tour of the country, and matches were thus resigned to long-forgotten international venues and a few domestic venues. Consequently, eight out of the top 11 wicket-takers were spinners, including some part-timers who feasted on the atypical turning tracks.
Since then, the youngster has played in the Caribbean, Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka, and Ireland across white and red-ball cricket, but neither of those places is known for being conducive to the pacers. Yashasvi’s inclusion in the T20I side before he made it to the Test arena and an ever-growing IPL schedule only exacerbated the issue, since it made him unavailable for some precious ‘A’ tours as well as the possibility of a County deal.
Now, while the sudden rise of Yashasvi means his lack of experience in SENA conditions is exceptionally rare, the general theme is all too common for openers in Asia. Growing up playing on either flat tracks or ones that rag like a corkscrew, young guns from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka are all too often pushed directly into the heat of the battle where world beaters and home turf specialists await in alien seaming and swinging conditions. In the 21st century, 14 men have racked up 5,000 or more Test runs at the top of the order – only three of them are Asian, namely Virender Sehwag, Dimuth Karunaratne, and Tamim Iqbal.
And it barely gets easier for the openers either. A significant stigma against spin bowling combined with the economic and power dynamics of international cricket means Asian players have to contend with such seam-friendly conditions disproportionately more. As of 18th September 2024, South Africa, England, New Zealand, and Australia had hosted a combined 499 Tests since the turn of the century, while only 373 Tests have taken place in Asia – a staggering difference of 126 encounters. Moreover, Bangladesh’s increasing affinity for preparing seam-friendly pitches, India’s tendency to resort to batting paradises, and Pakistan’s insistence on dead tracks crafted to force draws only make the situation worse for spin-dominant batters.
The nature of spin-bowling itself also plays a key role. More often than not, regardless of the conditions on offer, it is a pacer who takes the new ball in hand and gets to have at least some say in the matter. The same cannot be said for spinners, given they don’t come into action until later in the day, especially if the pitch is offering something significant to their faster counterparts. The fatality of the new-ball in pace-friendly conditions means inexperienced openers never get a chance to settle, as evidenced by Yashasvi’s Test outings in South Africa and two T20Is in Ireland – the opener averaged 12.50 and 21 respectively, while not facing a single ball of spin.
Over the next 12 months, Yashasvi is slated to play five Tests Down Under and as many in England – two nations with the lowest averages for pacers and openers. Since 2020, Australian pacers have averaged a remarkable 20.96 at home, well clear of the next-best South Africa with 23.16. England slot in at third with an average of 25.42. The new-ball numbers are along the same lines – batters average 25.57 in the first 20 overs in Tests in Australia and 29.89 in England respectively. For contrast, the corresponding number in India is a much tamer 40.31.
The fact that touring seamers seem to struggle more in India than anywhere else also adds to the perfect circumstances that Yashasvi has had at his disposal to get his Test career off to a dream start. In the ongoing decade, touring pacers have averaged 39.53 in Tests in India, by far the worst across all Test-playing countries. An average of 27.63 for the home pacers might have slightly cloaked the extremity of the situation – we have a certain Jasprit Bumrah to thank for it – but Yashasvi can rest assured that things are about to get significantly tougher.
The first signs of it were already visible in the opening Test against Bangladesh, with the Tigers opting to bowl first under an overcast Chennai sky on a fresh deck offering pace and bounce. Yashasvi showcased immense disciplineto patiently rack up 56 runs at an uncharacteristic strike rate of 47.45 but the inevitable came to follow in the second innings, where the opener kept flaying his hands at every ball that came his way, and ultimately ended up nicking a Nahid Rana delivery to depart for 10.
Nevertheless, it is almost a guarantee that the youngster will only reach new heights in the coming four home Tests against Bangladesh and New Zealand. Yet, ironically, it could prove to be his detriment, given arguably no Indian opener has previously gone overseas for a first significant tour with such high expectations already resting on his shoulders. At the tender age of 22, not only is Jaiswal a household name but a world-dominator in the biggest league in the world and a T20 World Cup winner – possibilities that were unfathomable in the days gone by.
Unsurprisingly, Yashasvi thus now belongs in the same bracket as some of cricket’s rarest talents across history, seemingly possessing the potential to be THE Test batter of his era. The youngster has already been templated as the next Virender Sehwag – a batter with 8,000 Test runs from over 100 caps and 23 tons to his name. It is no co-incidence that the Nawab of Najafgarh had exceptional numbers in SENA conditions – he averaged well over 40 in Oceania and a stellar 50.23 in South Africa. The opener conundrum that has plagued India across the past decade with the likes of Gautam Gambhir, Mayank Agarwal, Murali Vijay, and Shikhar Dhawan all struggling to stamp their authority consistently in SENA condition which culminated in short-lived careers, is proof enough that the ability to handle pace of all kinds is paramount to make it in the Test arena as a top-order batter — and only time shall tell whether Yashasvi possess the minerals to match or maybe even exceed the great expectations.
