Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar heaped praises on Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul for providing a solid start on the opening day of the one-off Test against Afghanistan on Saturday.
After choosing to bat first, India were 96/1 at lunch, putting themselves in a strong position. Gavaskar was satisfied with the way the openers handled the new ball and the conditions early in the innings.
“On day one, when you get off to a start of almost a hundred and have lost just one wicket, you’ve done really well,” Gavaskar told JioHotstar. “They managed to negate whatever early assistance the seam bowlers received.”
Jaiswal looked promising and scored 24 off 32 before losing his wicket, while Rahul remained unbeaten on 37 at lunch. Rahul later converted his start into a brilliant century (100 off 165), while Sai Sudharsan contributed a fluent 81 as India finished Day 1 on 368/3 in 85 overs.
Gavaskar felt Jaiswal was simply unfortunate to lose his wicket after showing great intent at the crease.
“Yashasvi was unlucky to get out, strangled down the leg side. On the first day, there are always nerves in the dressing room about what the pitch is going to do because nobody really knows, so he and Rahul helped settle those nerves,” he added.
He also praised the approach shown by both batters.
“The way they batted was impressive, and some of the shots Jaiswal played were particularly pleasing,” Gavaskar added. “He didn’t score too many runs, and Rahul had a couple of close shaves early on, but overall, I thought both of them batted really well.”
At stumps on Day 1, captain Shubman Gill remained unbeaten on 103, with Rishabh Pant also scoring a n unbeaten half-century.
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