Sanjay Manjrekar hails Yashasvi Jaiswal’s backfoot game after heroics in opening Test against Australia

Former Indian batter Sanjay Manjrekar lauded Yashasvi Jaiswal’s backfoot game after his heroics in the opening Test match against Australia at Perth. Jaiswal scored a magnificent knock of 161 runs off 297 balls with the help of 15 fours and three sixes.

The left-hander scored the bulk of his runs on the backfoot and behind the square as he was spot on in judging the length of the ball. Jaiswal was dismissed for a duck in the first innings but he was able to turn the tables in the second innings. 

The southpaw showed all the patience in his marathon knock and scored his maiden century on Australian soil. Manjrekar noted that Virat Kohli has been very keen to come on the front foot in the recent past and it led to his downfall in the first essay but Jaiswal showed great technique in the second dig.

“The square cut- he plays it a little later, which may not be ideal, but the back foot punch is something to love now in both those shots that you see there guys well, the new King (Jaiswal) likes to be on the back foot, unlike the reigning king (Kohli) who wants to be on the front foot, and as a result of that, he got 64% of the runs behind square. And that’s something I think Virat Kohli might just want to have a look at because that’s an area where he doesn’t look to score off at all,” Manjrekar said on Star Sports.

Manjrekar highlighted that Jaiswal got an extra second to play while playing on the back foot.

“It’s also an indication of two things. One that he obviously has. Some white ball instincts, the T20 instincts, plus the fact the guys who played that shot are in position very early. They have that extra second to think about. You know what? I might just tap this ball on the way plays the cut, which is a little later than most batters do. What a fantastic innings from Yashasvi,” Manjrekar said in the same discussion.

Meanwhile, India declared at 487-6 to give a huge target of 534 runs to Australia. On the close of the third day’s play, Australia were struggling at 12-3 after Jasprit Bumrah (two wickets) and Mohammed Siraj (one wicket) struck early.