Yashasvi Jaiswal opens up on “emotional” Test debut hundred

It was a great day of cricket for the Indians as they continued to dominate West Indies with an imperious brand of batting. Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was right at the top of his game as he played a near-perfect innings without breaking a sweat while Rohit Sharma allayed the fears of his dearth of numbers with his second century away from home in the Whites.

Jaiswal became the 17th Indian cricketer to hammer a century on his Test debut and the third-ever cricketer to score a ton on his debut against West Indies. The other two to have pulled off the same feat are Rohit, who got his century in Kolkata in 2013, while Prithvi Shaw achieved the same at Rajkot in 2018. Jaiswal became the first Indian player to score a Test century on his debut against West Indies in the latter’s turf.

He also became the fourth youngest Test centurion for India on debut at 21 years and 196 days as he rode roughshod over the Caribbean bowlers throughout the day. The others ahead of him are Shaw, Abbas Ali Baig and Gundappa Vishwanath. At the end of day’s play, Jaiswal was vocal about his emotions and how special the knock was for him. He gleefully talked about the conditions and the kind of support that he received from the Indian captain, Rohit, which would help him tremendously on his Test debut.

Talking on the unwavering faith showered upon him by the Indian management, Jaiswal said, “I think this is one of the emotional knocks for me, it's difficult to get opportunities in the Indian team, I would like to thank everyone, the supporters, team management and Rohit Bhai.”

He then shifted his focus to what the situation was for the day, adding, “The pitch is on the slower side and the outfield is very slow, it was difficult and challenging, it was pretty hot and I wanted to keep doing it for my country, just play ball-by-ball and enjoy my cricket.”

Also shedding some light on what Test cricket means to him, Jaiswal added, “I love Test cricket, I like this challenge, I enjoy the situation when the ball swings and seams. We have worked hard on everything. I've just gone out to express myself.”

He would conclude by talking about his century, stating, “Was an emotional moment, was just proud of myself, thankful to everyone, this is just a start and I want to do well going further.”