Yashasvi Jaiswal averages 36.90 against pacers while 114.70 vs spinners. What’s ailing Jaiswal against Pacers and how should address this problem?
Yashasvi Jaiswal has made a dream start to his Test career. He crossed 1000 Test runs in just 10 Tests. In his last six Tests, including the ongoing Chennai Test against Bangladesh, he scored at least a fifty in each match. However, it is still early days for Jaiswal, the Test opener. There is probably a chink in his armour that is beginning to show up. In his brief career of 10 Tests, Jaiswal averages over 110 against spinners, but it drops to a third against pacers. Have a look at these stats that show Jaiswal has apparent weakness against pace bowling. Even in the ongoing Chennai Test, he fell to pace both times.
Jaiswal’s dismissals to pace and spin
| Bowling | Innings | Runs | Out | Average |
| Pace | 18 | 406 | 11 | 36.90 |
| Spin | 12 | 688 | 6 | 114.70 |
| Overall | 18 | 1094 | 17 | 64.35 |
Jaiswal’s dismissals to different types of pacers
| Bowlers | Innings | Runs | Out | Average |
| Left-arm fast | 1 | 8 | 0 | – |
| Left-arm medium | 4 | 25 | 3 | 8.30 |
| Right-arm fast | 14 | 120 | 2 | 60.00 |
| Right-arm medium | 12 | 253 | 6 | 42.20 |
A detailed analysis of his dismissals to pacers shows that Jaiswal is mostly susceptible to right-arm medium-pace bowling, having fallen six times to them out of a total of 11 dismissals to pacers. If we ignore the two dismissals to right-arm fast, the total dismissals to right-arm fast or medium bowlers come to eight out of a total of 11. One can contrast this to only six dismissals to spinners out of 17 overall dismissals in Test cricket. Jimmy Anderson of England and Nahid Rana of Bangladesh, both right-arm medium-pace bowlers, have dismissed Jaiswal twice each.
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What troubles Jaiswal?
Jaiswal is susceptible to balls leaving him from a right-arm pace bowler over the wicket as he looks to play away from the body, looking for an expansive drive on the front or back foot. This apparent weakness was exposed by Rana in the Chennai Test.
Jaiswal has made merry against spinners in the sub-continental conditions, dominating them with his attacking game. But whenever a pacer has come on to bowl, Jaiswal has looked to play in the same style, and as a result, he has played away from his body to balls moving away from him, resulting in edges behind.
The way forward
If Jaiswal can tighten his skills against pace bowling and looks to leave as many deliveries as possible on the offside that make him play away from the body, he could probably convert his apparent weakness into strength. He could be a more compact player with a tighter technique against pacers.
Tougher test lies ahead
Yashasvi Jaiswal could have escaped with this weakness in India, but with an important Test series coming Down Under, the batter will be tested until he sorts this out. Pitches in Australia offer good bounce, carry, and movement off the pitch and in the air as well. The young man needs to ensure that he has a compact technique on the backfoot where he can duck, leave, sway, and play closer to his body to survive and score runs against the Aussies. Grinding out the bowlers by playing closer to the body and having good shot selection while punishing the bad balls will be the key to survival for the India opener Down Under.
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