Yashasvi Jaiswal on Saturday became the third youngest Indian batter after Vinod Kambli and Sunil Gavaskar to score a Test double century. The left-handed opener, 22 years and 37 days to the day, resumed batting on Day 2 of second India vs England Test on his overnight score of 179 runs and reached the landmark with a four, bowled by Shoaib Bashir. India, at the time of writing, were 381/7 in 103 in their first innings at ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam. (Live Blog | More Cricket News)
Vinod Kambli remains the youngest Indian batter to hit a double century in Test cricket. Also a left-handed batter, the former Mumbai middle-order batter was 21 years and 32 days old when he hit a double century (224) against England in Mumbai (Wankhede Stadium) in 1993.
Kambli, in fact, was 21 years and 55 days when he hit another double ton (227), this time against Zimbabwe in Delhi in 1993. Sunil Gavaskar was 21 years and 283 days when completed that epic 220 against the West Indies in Port of Spain in 1971.
Jaiswal, one of the rising stars of Indian cricket, missed out on the opportunity to hit a double ton in his debut match, against the West Indies in July 2023. But his 171 in the maiden batting outing in national colours was good enough to fetch him a Player of the Match award as India cantered to an innings and 141 runs in Roseau.
In Vizag, on Saturday, the youngster hit England debutant Shoaib Bashir for a six in the 100th over to move into the 190s. It was followed by some anxious moment as his senior partner on the other end, Ravichandran Ashwin (20 off 37) became the second victim of fellow legend James Anderson. A 34-run stand in 57 balls broken, and Jaiswal got the company of Kuldeep Yadav.
Bashir returned for 33rd over, and Jaiswal welcomed back the spinner with a six, and then a four. An undefeated 277-ball knock of pure class, and the youngster celebrated his maiden double century with elan. 201 runs with 18 fours and seven sixes.
Playing XIs
India: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Rajat Patidar, Srikar Bharat (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mukesh Kumar.
England: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes (wk), Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
The record for the fewest innings to hit a maiden Test double century for India, however, belongs to Karun Nair, who achieved the feat in his only third essay. Kambli took four innings, Gavaskar and Mayank Agarwal eight, Cheteshwar Pujara nine and Jaiswal 10.
