India vs West Indies: 'Jaiswal lost patience and..' Sunil Gavaskar on youngster's half-century in second Test

With one century and one fifty against West Indies, the recently-concluded Test series was a memorable one for 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal. He finished the two-Test series as top-scorer, with 266 runs with an average of 88.66. Someone who has witnessed Jaiswal across the two Tests would feel that he ticked all the boxes.

Jaiswal scored 171 in the first Test in Dominica, and followed it up with a knock of 57 during the first innings of the second Test in Trinidad. Former India batter Sunil Gavaskar feels that Jaiswal missed an opportunity to score back-to-back hundreds in the series.

“Virat Kohli celebrated his 500th international appearance with a century. After seeing the first few deliveries it was apparent there was no devil in the pitch and a batter had to be overconfident or complacent to miss out on a hundred,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.

“Jaiswal lost patience and reached out to a widish half-volley and was caught at deepish backward point and Rohit didn’t quite go to the pitch of the ball to be bowled,” he added.

India vs West Indies Test series were part of three marquee series happening simultaneously. The other is the Ashes, which Australia retained after the drawn Test in Manchester, and the Sri Lanka vs Pakistan series in Sri Lanka, which the visitors lead 1-0.

Unlike the other two series, the India vs West Indies series has largely been one-sided, so much so that there has been a low turnout for both matches in the Caribbean so far.

Gavaskar noted that there were “barely a hundred people” to watch the Trinidad Test in the stadium.

“Though Pakistan are the better-balanced team, the Lankans are fighting it out and not giving up till the last ball is bowled. In England too, the series is taking an interesting turn with England at the end of the third day’s play showing why they are a different team than the one that donned the colours two years back,” wrote Gavaskar.

“In Trinidad though it looked so one-sided that there are barely a few hundred people at the ground to support the home team the West Indies. Most of those are the Indians living overseas who have come to see their favourite Team India. They were not disappointed as they saw a good opening stand between skipper Rohit Sharma and newcomer Yashasvi Jaiswal,” added the 74-year-old.