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England legend, Sir Alastair Cook hailed Yashasvi Jaiswal’s confidence when taking on Mitchell Starc and following it up with a massive score in Perth.
Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 161 runs for India in the 2nd innings of the Perth Test. (Picture Credit: AP)
England batting great, Sir Alastair Cook had nothing but praise for India’s opening batter, Yashasvi Jaiswal. The former English skipper hailed the young southpaw’s attitude and confidence when going up against Mitchell Starc in the Border-Gavaskar series-opener in Perth.
Jaiswal, playing his first Test tour on Australian soil, stepped up to the challenge and even taunted Starc when batting. He said, “You are coming too slow at me,” which left a smile on the left-arm pacer as he walked back to his mark.
Cook, reflecting on his battles with the pacer does not believe that he bowls slow by any means. He praised the confidence and swagger with which, Jaiswal took the challenge and also delivered in the second innings with a brilliant 161.
“We’ve seen his celebration enough here, but it’s more enjoyable against Australia than England, certainly. And sledging Mitchell Starc, saying at a certain stage, I think he wasn’t on 100, he wasn’t on anything on a major score, but he’s telling him you’re bowling slow,” Cook said on TNT Sports.
“And I’ve faced Mitchell Starc and he certainly doesn’t bowl slow. And if he was bowling slow, I’d keep my mouth shut and not wind him up, but have the confidence to do that as a 22-year-old,” he added.
Cook hailed the youngster for making his mark at the top of the order, coming up against various challenges in several opponents and suggested that the young southpaw is a class apart from the rest considering that he does the toughest job i.e. open the batting.
“I think he scored the most runs as any Indian player up to after 15 Test matches at the top of the order, which I’ll keep saying it, no one else believes me, it’s the hardest place to bat. What a classy player he is,” Cook commented.
The young southpaw is currently India’s second-highest run-scorer in Tests for 2024 and looks to be in touch with breaking the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s record of scoring the most runs in a calendar year, having scored 1562 runs in 14 Tests back in 2010.
Jaiswal will also face a new challenge as he is set to play his first pink ball Test. He had been a part of the practice game against the Prime Minister’s 11 at the Manuka Oval in Canberra where he scored 45 runs in 59 balls. He will look to continue his rich vein of form in Adelaide as well.
(With IANS Inputs)
