Talented left-handed batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, who became the latest Test debutant for India, batted with grit on the first day of the first Test against West Indies in Dominica. He stayed unbeaten on 40 and looked set to complete his maiden half-century in Test on Day 2 of the match. With his Test debut, Jaiswal achieved a unique feat surpassing Sachin Tendulkar, Shubman Gill.
Jaiswal's first-class average ahead of making his Test debut was 80.21 in 15 matches. It's the third highest for any Indian batter. Vinod Kambli (88.37, 27 matches) and Pravin Amre (81.23, 23 matches) had better first-class average before making their Test debut. Tendulkar had an average of 70.18 in nine first-class matches before making his Test debut while Gill averaged 68.78 in 23 first-class games.
Meanwhile, Nursing a bruised ego after WTC final snub last month, Ravichandran Ashwin made the best possible comeback as his 33rd five-wicket haul put India in the driver's seat against a below-par West Indies on the first day of the opening Test on Wednesday.
Ashwin justified his top billing in ICC Test bowlers' ranking with figures of 5 for 60 in 24.3 overs to decimate West Indies for a lowly 150 in 64.3 overs with Ravindra Jadeja (3/26 in 14 overs) beautifully complementing him to make life miserable for the home team batters.
With more than an hour available for batting skipper Rohit Sharma (30 batting, 65 balls) and debutant Yashasvi Jaiswal (40 batting, 73 balls) added 80 runs for the opening stand to bring down first innings deficit to 70 going into second day.
The new pair looked comfortable as there is not much help for the bowlers with Indian skipper hitting his customary 'Nataraja' pull-shot and soothing straight drive. Jaiswal also hardly showed any signs of nerves as he played close to his body for better part of evening.
With PTI inputs