It was a record-breaking outing for two players, who combined to decimate England, albeit playing different roles. If it was Jasprit Bumrah with the ball, as he recorded his best-ever bowling figures (6/45) on home soil to fold England for 253 runs, young Yashasvi Jaiswal starred with the bat, as the left-hander notched up his maiden double century in Test cricket at the start of Day 2 in Visakhapatnam. The cricketing fraternity could not stop praising Yashasvi effusively over his monumental feat, but former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir warned them against over-hyping the achievement, saying that his natural game could be adversely affected by the increased burden of expectations.
While Bumrah was aided by Kuldeep Yadav with his sharp-turning deliveries on that flat deck in Vizag, Yashasvi had waged a lone battle against the England attack. No other Indian batter managed to score more than 34 runs.
After finishing unbeaten on 179 at the end of Day 1, he converted his overnight score to an epic 209 off 290 balls to power India to 396 all out in the first innings. Yashasvi thus became the third-youngest Indian to achieve score a double century in Test cricket and first left-handed batter to accomplish the feat since 2009. Gambhir achieved the feat in 2008 against Australia.
Speaking to PTI hours after Yashasvi’s record achievement, Gambhir urged world cricket not to burden Yashasvi with tags, and allow him to enjoy the sport.
“I want to congratulate the youngster for his achievement but, more importantly, I want to tell everyone that let the young man play. We have seen in the past that in India we have a habit, especially the media, to over-hype their achievements and give them tags and make them look like heroes,” the former India World-Cup winner said.
“The pressure of expectation gets the better of them and the players are not able to play their natural game. Let him grow and enjoy his cricket,” added Gambhir.
Bumrah’s 6 for 45, along with Kuldeep’s three-fer, saw Yashasvi walk out to bat for the second time on Saturday. He picked up from where he left off in the morning, scoring three boundaries in his unbeaten 15 off 17 as India finished on 28 for no loss, with a lead of 171 runs in the match.
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