The new sensational left-handed opening batter of the Indian team, Yashasvi Jaiswal creates new history with a huge world record during the fifth of the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club. He started from where he finished in the fourth game, remaining unbeaten on 93 runs in 53 balls with the help of 13 boundaries.
He missed the first two games of the series due to late arrival after they celebrated their title win in Mumbai. Yashasvi Jaiswal didn’t play a single game in the Men’s T20 World Cup 2024, but with the retirement of Rohit Sharma, he looked to be a consistent member of the side in the opening spot.
India came into the final game already having the series in their bag with a 3-1 margin. That meant it was a contest where they would go freely with both bat and ball in hand.
Yashasvi Jaiswal nails sixes off the first two balls of a men’s T20I
On a pleasant afternoon, Zimbabwe captain Sikandar Raza on winning the toss decided to bowl first, expecting the track to get better in the second innings, just how it behaved during the fourth game of the series.
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The captain introduced him into the attack. The very first ball of the inning was a high full-toss from Raza, as Yashasvi Jaiswal went low and smashed it over deep square leg region for a six. The umpire called it a no-ball for height.
The next ball was an off-break on a length from the all-rounder, as the India opener, going back, powered it straight down the ground for another six. This joins him in the history book straightaway. Before him, it was only Ivan Selemani who achieved the feat in 2022 against Rwanda, by nailing sixes off the first two balls in a Men’s T20I game.
However, Jaiswal couldn’t extend his innings as he found his stumps being rattled two balls later, misreading the in-swinging fast delivery from off-spinner Raza. Even after a good start in the innings, India struggled to keep the momentum in their favor. They kept on losing wickets on regular intervals and found themselves struggling at 40/3 inside the powerplay.
Sanju Samson played a decent knock of 58 runs in 45 balls, shouldering on one six and four boundaries, while Shivam Dube provided them the power at the end, with his 26-run knock in 12 balls, with the help of two boundaries and as many as sixes, with a strike rate of 216.67. India ended with 167/6 in their 20-overs.
The aggressive and smart bowling from the visitors never allowed the hosts to go for the chase, as they were bundled out for just 125 runs, in 18.3 overs. Yashasvi Jaiswal finished the series as the second-highest run-getter with 141 runs in three innings, at an average of 70.50 and a strike rate of nearly 166.
At the end of the fourth game, after receiving the ‘Player of the Match’ award, the ‘Rajasthan Royals’ batter spoke about how he designed that knock.
‘I really enjoyed my batting today. I had my plans for different bowlers. The ball was coming on when it was new and as it got old, it was quite slow.’ Yashasvi Jaiswal expressed. ‘I enjoyed batting with Shubman. Initially I was thinking to take on the bowlers and as the innings progressed, I thought how to build the innings and stay till the end.’
With 643 T20I runs in 19 innings already in his short career, Jaiswal is expected to retain his place for the upcoming Sri Lanka trip.