On his debut tour of England, Yashasvi Jaiswal hoped to be more consistent, but he was incredibly satisfied with his second-innings century on a “spicy” pitch at The Oval, which helped set a huge 374-run target in the fifth Test.
With two hundreds and as many fifties, Jaiswal finished the series with 411 runs at an average of 41.10.
In the early stages, Jaiswal was bombarded with a barrage of short balls aimed at his rib cage, and before that, he had faced a challenging battle against Jofra Archer at Lord’s.
Although the Indian opener’s 10-inning results (101, 4, 87, 28, 13, 0, 58, 0, 2, 118) indicate he was not one of the most reliable hitters, Jaiswal made a significant impression following a respectable run in Australia.
“I think I wanted to do more. I wanted to make my innings bigger than that. So, I could have achieved something else. But it’s okay,” he told the media on Saturday.
“I was trying very hard for that and I was enjoying it. Whenever I go out there, I think, as long as I can bat, I enjoy batting as well,” added Jaiswal, who rode his luck to complete his sixth Test hundred on Saturday.
Rohit Sharma, Jaiswal’s former captain, who was in the stands at The Oval watching the match, also gave him some guidance.
“He told me to hang in there and bat long,” said the southpaw.
Speaking further about what he took out from the series, Jaiswal stated: “It’s all about how I fight. Always, the mentality is to go out there and fight it out and enjoy. Because in the end, (and) as I tell myself that it’s the game and we need to enjoy the game. That is very important. With that, we should have fun.”
Talking more about his learnings from the series, Jaiswal said: “It’s all about how I fight. Always, the mentality is to go out there and fight it out and enjoy.” “Because in the end, (and) as I tell myself that it’s the game and we need to enjoy the game. That is very important. With that, we should have fun.
“I am proud of myself and all my teammates. We want fun. We want some battle in the middle. That is the fun. That’s why you play Test cricket,” he said.
England will not have an easy time chasing a record 374-run total on day four, according to Jaiswal, who was dropped three times during his innings.
“The wicket was a little spicy. I was enjoying batting. I was enjoying it a lot,” he said.
“I expect that in England, when you play, you play on a wicket like this. Mentally, I was ready and I was just enjoying. I knew what shot I’m going to play on this surface,” Jaiswal, who partnered with nightwatchman Akash Deep for a 107-run stand during the morning session, stated.
“If we can bowl the channel line, it would be good. Batting won’t be easy here. We are confident of defending the target.”
