“What stands out for me is the hunger he has to score runs”

Former India wicket-taker Deep Dasgupta described Yashasvi Jaiswal’s hunger for scoring as the outstanding aspect of the young cricketer. Dasgupta added that the 21-year-old had displayed exemplary discipline and temperament on his way to scoring 100 Test runs on his debut.

Jaiswal hit a ton on his Test debut on the second day against the West Indies in Dominica on Thursday. Resuming his innings for his night’s score of 40, Southpaw came back unbeaten with 143 off 350 balls, hitting 14 fours.

Young added 229 runs for the opening wicket with captain Rohit Sharma (103 off 221 balls) as India ended the second day in Dominica on 312/2, responding to West Indies’ first innings total of 150.

During a discussion on ESPNcricinfo, Dasgupta praised Jaiswal and commented:

“What stands out to me is the hunger he has to score. We’ve seen that at home. I think he’s got eight (nine) hundreds in 15 singles games, so obviously the hunger was very evident here as well. Even though he hits with 140 singles, he still wanted to score more. Let’s not forget, it wasn’t easy to score points on that surface. He was quite disciplined from that perspective.”

The former India goalkeeper added:

“He’s played 350 odd deliveries. It’s a testament to his fitness, temperament and hunger to score as many as he can.”

Rohit-Jaiswal’s rig was immediately broken after the Indian captain crossed three figures. Shubman Gill (6) fell cheaply, but Jaiswal and Virat Kohli (36*) added a straight 72 runs for the third wicket.

“He never lost his cool” – Dasgupta on Jaiswal’s temperament

During the discussion, Dasgupta also praised Jaiswal’s temperament, pointing out that the youngster did not lose his composure even when the batting was not easy after the ball became soft.

The 46-year-old explained:

“Yesterday (day one), the mic stump was so loud and when the ball was kind of old, I heard him say, ‘I’m trying, but the ball’s so soft, I can’t hit it hard enough as hard as I’m trying.'” Although he was somewhat frustrated, he never lost his calmness and composure. That says a lot for someone so young at the highest level. Not only internationally, but if you look at his first-class experience as well, it hasn’t been that long.”

Mainly thanks to Jaiswal and Rohit, India has managed to build 162 races. They will look to extend the lead to a big one on the third day to ensure they don’t have to bat a second time.