A day before India played their first game of the T20 World Cup 2024 against Ireland in New York, Yashasvi Jaiswal had 502 runs in T20Is at an average of 33.46 and a strike rate of 161.93.
The 22-year-old did not have the greatest of runs in the 2024 Indian Premier League, but he was still, nevertheless, among the best openers in world cricket. Case in point, he entered the T20WC as the seventh-ranked batter in the world.
Yet such was the strength that India possessed that they not only played the entire T20WC without Jaiswal — in order to add more flexibility to the middle-order — but ended up going all the way.
Jaiswal would have walked into most XIs in the T20WC, yet here were India, winning the whole thing by voluntarily leaving out a world class batter.
India also played the entire T20WC without Shubman Gill, who, unlike Jaiswal, was not even in the 15-man squad.
Gill did not possess startling T20I numbers like Jaiswal, but he had outrageous IPL numbers that warranted selection: 1,316 runs since IPL 2023 at an average of 50.62 and SR of 154.3, which was 143 more runs than everyone else except Virat Kohli.
These two superstars were not able to showcase their talent in the biggest stage of all, the World Cup, but their omission from the mega event meant that India got the opportunity to flex their muscles in the ongoing five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe by featuring these two as part of a ‘second-string’ team.
An opening pairing of Gill & Jaiswal was always going to be too much to handle for Zimbabwe, and the reality has proven to be no different.
After adding 67 runs together in the third T20I, batting first, the pair combined to add 156 unbroken runs in the fourth T20I on July 13 (Saturday) to seal the series for the visitors.
After being asked to bat first on a fresh surface, it looked like Zimbabwe had scrambled to a ‘semi-competitive’ total. You know, the kind of total that could possibly be defended with some exceptional bowling and a fair bit of luck.
In reality, however, 152 was not close to being anywhere near par.
That was shown by Jaiswal & Gill, who knocked down the target with 28 balls to spare without breaking a sweat.
Jaiswal began the chase with a 15-run first over and both he and India never looked back after that. They got to 43/0 at the end of three overs and 61/0 at the end of the powerplay. Jaiswal himself torched the Zimbabwe bowling up-front as he accounted for 47 off the 61 runs scored in the powerplay.
At one point, Jaiswal was on 63 (35), with Gill batting on just 15 off 16 balls.
But the pair, who have already shown to have excellent chemistry in their short time together, switched roles soon, with Gill taking charge after the eight-over mark of the innings.
As it turned out, from 80/0, the Indian stand-in skipper scored 43 of the remaining 72 runs to take the team to a 10-wicket victory, the second in their history. The previous instance also, incidentally, came against Zimbabwe in Harare eight years ago.
With a new era in T20Is having begun for the side, India are actively hunting to find their long-term opening partnership.
Gill & Jaiswal have already made a solid case to be the side’s opening pair for both the present and the future.
The two youngsters have now opened seven times together and have added 429 runs at an average of 71.50 — it’s the best average for any Indian opening pair that has scored a minimum of 300 runs.
The two, as a pair, are going very big very often. Gill & Jaiswal already hold the record for the joint-highest opening stand posted by an Indian pair — 165 against West Indies in Lauderhill last year.
Today, they became only the third Indian opening pair to post multiple 100-run stands. These two now have registered more 100-run opening stands for India in T20Is than Gambhir & Sehwag did, and that too in 10 fewer innings.
Fair to say, the future looks bright for the Men in Blue.
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