The young opening duo of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill matched an all-time record in Indian cricket as the duo stitched an opening stand of 165 runs in the 4th T20I against West Indies in Florida, making the run-chase of 179 easy with their attacking strokes. KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma had also stitched a 165-run stand against Sri Lanka for the opening wicket at Indore in 2017. Seeing the pairing of Gill and Jaiswal script history, former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar took to X (formerly Twitter) to sing their praises.
The highest partnership for India in T20Is is by Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson, who stitched a 176-run second wicket stand against Ireland last year. The highest-ever partnership in T20Is is between Usman Ghani and Hazratullah Zazai, of 236 runs for Afghanistan against Ireland in 2019. It is also the highest opening stand in T20Is.
"The young Ind batters don't have to ‘adjust' to T20s. They are naturals at it. Stay in the moment, see the ball hit the ball. No worrying about getting out, no long terms plans of getting a 50 or a 100. That's perfect T20 approach! Well done Gill & Jaiswal!", he wrote on X.
Jaiswal, at the age of 21 years and 227 days is the youngest Indian opener to score a T20I fifty.
The youngest Indian to score a T20I fifty is Rohit Sharma, who scored a half-century against South Africa in 2007 at the age of 20 years and 143 days.
India levelled the series 2-2 with this win, with one more game to go, which will be played on Sunday.
With ANI inputs