171 runs, 381 balls, one six: Yashasvi Jaiswal joins Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman after marathon debut innings

The 21-year-old batter scored 171 runs after playing as many as 381 deliveries. The innings from the usually very attacking and aggressive batter saw him just one six. That six came off on the 378th ball of his innings.

The batter went unbeaten on 40 off 73 balls at the end of Day 1. He batted throughout the Day 2 and again stayed unbeaten overnight at 143 off 350 balls. On Day 3, the Mumbai batter batted for another 37 balls to add another 28 runs en route to his 171 – now the third-highest run by an Indian batter on debut. Shikhar Dhawan scored 187, while Rohit Sharma smashed 177 against the same opponent on his Test debut in 2013.

Jaiswal 3rd on list of batters to face most balls in debut Test innings

Further, Jaiswal now also features in the top-three list of batters to face maximum deliveries on Test debut. Sri Lanka’s Brendon Kuruppu scored 201 not out runs off 548 balls on his Test debut against New Zealand in 1987.

Mathew Sinclair of New Zealand scored 214 runs off 447 balls on his Test debut against West Indies in 1999. Yashasvi Jaiswal is third on the list now.

Jaiswal joins Tendulkar, Dravid, Laxman, other legends in elite list

Further, the left-hand batter has joined the list of India stalwarts who have played over 350 balls in a single Test innings. Cheteshwar Pujara holds the record of most balls played by an Indian in a Test innings. He faced 525 deliveries against Australia in Ranchi in 2017.

Rahul Dravid is second with 495 balls faced in Rawalpindi versus Pakistan in 2004, Navjot Singh Sidhu (491), Ravi Shastri (477) and Sunil Gavaskar (472) occupy the next three spots. Sachin Tendulkar faced 436 balls during his famous innings of 241 unbeaten runs in Sydney. VVS Laxman faced 452 deliveries against Australia in the iconic Eden Gardens Test match in 2001. Gautam Gambhir faced 436 deliveries against New Zealand in Napier in 2009.

366 deliveries are the maximum faced by Virat Kohli during the Indore Test against New Zealand in 2016. Former India captain Sourav Ganguly faced 361 balls against Sri Lanka and Pakistan in 1997 and 2007 respectively.

Only 26 more times have an Indian batter faced 381 or more deliveries in a single Test innings. The innings from Jaiswal very well placed him in the company of greats. He has proved at an early age that he is tailor-made for all the formats of the game.

Jaiswal 4th on list of highest scores on Test debut as an opener

Sri lanka’s Kuruppu scored 201* on his debut in 1987 and occupies the to spot in the list. Devon Conway (200 vs England at Lord’s in 2021), Dhawan (187 vs Australia in Mohali in 2013) and New Zealand’s Hamish Rutherford (171 vs England in 2013) shares the number four spot with India’s lastest batting sensation.