Former England captain Michael Vaughan said he would've picked Yashasvi Jaiswal as injured KL Rahul's replacement in the Indian team for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Vaughan's comments came after Jaiswal smashed the fastest half-century in Indian Premier League (IPL) history, in just 13 balls, during Rajasthan Royals' match against Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday. Jaiswal missed out on his hundred by just two runs as he remained unbeaten on 98 off just 47 deliveries. Taking to Twitter, Vaughan said that the 21-year-old Jaiswal will become a superstar.
"I would have selected @ybj_19 as KL Rahuls replacement for the World Test championship final ... He is that good .. he is going to be a superstar," Vaughan tweeted.
Jaiswal hit six fours and three sixes on his way to his 50 in front of a stunned Eden Gardens, beating the previous record of 14 balls held jointly by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins.
The 21-year-old, who moved to Mumbai as a child and lived in a tent to pursue his cricketing dreams, hit 26 runs in the first over off Kolkata captain Nitish Rana.
Jaiswal only missed out on a century because Rajasthan chased down the modest target of 150 with a massive 41 balls to spare.
"I prepare well and trust myself to execute my shots. I know the results will come. I wanted to finish the game and winning the game was my motto," Jaiswal, who was named player of the match, said afterwards.
"I was only thinking about the net run rate (for Rajasthan) and not my century," he said.
Notably, Jaiswal's astonishing innings was also the second fastest in T20 history after India's Yuvraj Singh clubbed a half century off only 12 balls against England at the 2007 World Cup in South Africa.
(With AFP Inputs)