Jaiswal rewrites record books during quick half-century

In the fifth and final Test of the ongoing series against England in Dharamsala, India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fell for a brisk 57 on the opening day. 

After England were bowled out for 218 in the first innings, India were off to a solid start in their batting assay. A century partnership between openers Jaiswal and Rohit Sharma helped them to 135 at the end of the day's play.

Jaiswal's was the only wicket to fall on ay one for India, with the opener dismissed for a quickfire 57. However, he rewrote the record books during the feisty innings.

In the 15th over, he smashed England off-spinner Shoaib Bashir past backward square leg, to bring up 1000 Test runs. This made him the second-fastest India batter to the landmark in terms of innings batted.

FASTEST TO 1000 TEST RUNS FOR INDIA
Batter                        Innings        Year        Opposition
Vinod Kambli              14            1994        West Indies
Yashasvi Jaiswal        16            2024        England
Cheteshwar Pujara    18            2013        Australia
Mayank Agarwal         19            2020        Australia
Sunil Gavaskar           21            1973        England

During this knock, he also became the fastest to 1000 Test runs as an India opener. The next-best is his current opening partner, Rohit Sharma.

Jaiswal had a defensive start, but took off with three sixes in Bashir's opening over. He finished with three sixes in the innings, and this helped him to a tally of 26 sixes against England. He now has the most Test sixes by an Indian batter against a particular opponent.

MOST TEST SIXES BY AN INDIAN BATTER (BY OPPOSITION)
Batter                        Sixes        Opposition        Innings
Yashasvi Jaiswal        26        England               9
Sachin Tendulkar       25        Australia              74
Rohit Sharma            22        South Africa         20
Kapil Dev                   21        England                39
Rishabh Pant        21             England                21

Before being dismissed, Jaiswal also managed to cross the 700-run mark for the series. This made him just the second Indian player to score more than 700 Test runs in a Test series. Legendary opener Sunil Gavaskar is the only other player to achieve this feat (twice).

Gavaskar scored 774 runs against the West Indies in his debut series in 1971. In the 1978/79 season, he scored 732 runs at home against the same opposition.

Jaiswal (712 runs) has one more innings to play in the series, and can still overtake Gavaskar for the India record.

Earlier in the day, spinners helped India take control in the first innings. Kuldeep Yadav was exceptional in an extended spell in the second session, finishing with his fourth Test five-wicket haul. He also crossed 50 Test wickets during this five-for, making him the first-ever slow left-arm unorthodox spinner from India to reach the feat.

Ravichandran Ashwin also picked 4-51 in the first innings of his 100th Test.