Yashasvi Jaiswal goes past Virender Sehwag to clinch elusive Test feat for India

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) [India], September 30 (ANI): Records continued to topple at Kanpur’s Green Park during the second Test against Bangladesh after Yashasvi Jaiswal surpassed India’s iconic opener, Virender Sehwag, for slamming the fastest fifty in a Test for the country.

The Indian team gave their own touch to England’s concept of ‘Bazball’ and went after Bangladesh bowlers right from the get-go.

While Rohit showed pure aggression, Jaiswal was more controlled in the way he expressed himself. In the first three overs, Rohit and Jaiswal forced the opposition to push the fielders towards the boundary while scoring at a whopping 14-plus strike rate.

Jaiswal raised his bat to celebrate a quick-fire half-century after facing just 31 deliveries. He surpassed Sehwag’s feat, who struck a fifty in 32 balls against England at Chennai in 2008. The young left-handed opener is now the fourth fastest India player to score fifty in Test cricket.

Rishabh Pant still holds the record for smashing the fastest fifty for India in the Test format. He went all guns blazing and scripted the record against Sri Lanka in 2022 while batting in Bengaluru.

The dynamic southpaw surpassed the legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev, who held the record since 1982. He took just 30 deliveries to hit the 50-run mark against India’s arch-rival Pakistan in Karachi.

Jaiswal’s brisk knock came to its conclusion at the hands of Bangladesh pacer Hasan Mahmud. An inward angling delivery that kept low sneaked past Jaiswal’s bat, forcing him to return to the dugout with a score of 72 (51).

India declared on 285/9, which made them the team with the highest run rate in a Test inning. In 34.4 overs that the hosts faced on Day 4, India batters scored at a whopping run rate of 8.22.

India bettered Australia’s record, which was scripted in 2017 against Pakistan. Australia showed their class and amassed runs at a run rate of 7.53 in Sydney.

After witnessing two days of rain, the people in Kanpur witnessed boundaries pelting down relentlessly. The boundary fest in Kanpur was started by Yashasvi Jaiswal and skipper Rohit Sharma.

The quickfire stand of 55 runs between the opening duo ended in 3.5 overs, with spinner Mehidy Hasan Miraz cleaning up Rohit for a quickfire 23 in 11 balls, with a sole four and three sixes.

During Rohit’s dismissal, the scoring rate of these two was 14.34 runs per over, the highest scoring rate in a Test partnership with a minimum of 50 runs, bettering the England duo of Ben Stokes and Ben Duckett, who stitched a stand of 87 in just 44 balls against the West Indies at Edgbaston this year, scoring at a rate of 11.86 runs per over.

Even after Rohit was dismissed, the protective, anchor-like approach of Shubman Gill provided Jaiswal with a safety net to go even harder at bowlers, helping India reach the hundred-run mark in just 10.1 overs, outdoing the team’s record of registering the milestone in 12.2 overs against the West Indies just last year.