Yashasvi Jaiswal was dismissed in extremely disappointing fashion coming in to bat in India’s first innings at the Gabba, falling to Mitchell Starc once again, this time on the second delivery of the innings. In an extremely soft dismissal, Jaiswal flicked a delivery on his pads uppishly, and right down the throat of Mitchell Marsh fielding as mid-wicket.
Jaiswal had gotten off the mark with a thick edge for four, but his early dismissal was a dagger for India as they try to haul down Australia’s total of 445 in the first innings. While there will be more expected from the youngster given his high potential and performances in his young Test career, he also came in for some tongue-in-cheek criticism from former England captain Michael Vaughan.
Right before entering the pitch for India’s innings, Jaiswal had been involved in a somewhat funny moment, as he was warming up against some throwdowns and flicked a delivery off his legs in the direction of the Australian players in a huddle. The shot lightly struck a cameraman near the huddle, and made the Australian players jump out of a small shock in a comedic instance.
‘Five minutes before Jaiswal got out…’
Nevertheless, this incident provided the firepower for Vaughan to take a dig at 22-year-old Jaiswal, while he was on commentary duties for domestic broadcasters. “Five minutes before Jaiswal got out, this is the shot he practiced that whip through mid-wicket, wonderful shot and good balance,” said Vaughan. “And then you go into the match and it’s the same shot but he goes aerial, just flicks it. It was the pressure of the game, in practice it’s perfect.”
When the incident near the Australian huddle had occurred, Vaughan saw the funny side of it and said “That’s one way of getting ahead of the game… he’s just trying to take out Mitchell Starc before the game starts.” Jaiswal has now been dismissed within Starc’s opening spell three times on this tour of Australia, continuing his poor record against left-arm pace in Test cricket.
Ravi Shastri, who was left in disbelief at the dismissal, agreed with Vaughan’s assessment. “Can you imagine the catch would be there? The man just in front of square, acres of space on the on side and Jaiswal hits it straight to the fielder,” said the former Indian player and coach.
With day three facing a series of rain interruptions, it has been a stop-start day of cricket, but a familiar story for India as they fell to three early wickets. KL Rahul and Rishabh Pant try to reconstruct the innings, currently at 39-3 in a weather-enforced stoppage of play.
