A 15-year-old prodigy sent a jolt through the cricket world earlier this week, striking a six on the very first ball he faced against Jasprit Bumrah. That teenager is Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, and the moment served as a reminder that another young star from the same mould—Yashasvi Jaiswal—is still very much in the spotlight, now aged 24.
Sooryavanshi’s rise, Abhishek Sharma’s climb to the No. 1 spot in T20I rankings, and Sanju Samson’s run of half-centuries capped by a hat-trick in India’s march to the T20 World Cup title have all been hard to miss. Jaiswal’s own breakthrough is part of that same storyline: in 2023, he hammered the IPL’s quickest fifty, reaching the milestone off just 13 deliveries.
Quick facts
- Match: Rain-affected, reduced to an 11-over game in Guwahati.
- Jaiswal’s score: 77* (not out) after starting with 35 off nine balls.
- Jaiswal strike rate: 240.62, his best in a T20 innings with 25+ balls faced.
- Impact: He nearly threatened his own record during the early phase.
- Bowlers involved: Deepak Chahar, Jasprit Bumrah, and AM Ghazanfar featured in his innings.
- Conditions: Rain delayed the start by nearly three hours; the pitch was covered for longer beforehand.
In the shortened contest on Tuesday, Jaiswal briefly put his previous benchmark under serious threat. He raced to 35 off nine balls before easing off for a moment, then surged again and ended unbeaten on 77, maintaining a scoring rate that sat above two runs per ball.
His strike rate of 240.62 stood as his highest in any T20 innings where he faced at least 25 balls. Even with the match shortened and the conditions altered, the intent was unmistakable—Jaiswal played like every ball mattered.
Rain pushed the start back by almost three hours, and the Guwahati surface had been under covers for a longer stretch in the build-up. Similar weather and pitch coverage had already shaped the season opener in Guwahati, where Chennai Super Kings suffered a collapse against Rajasthan Royals in a Test-like rhythm.
All guns blazing from ball one
Jaiswal, though, refused to let the setting dictate his approach. In an 11-over chase-style sprint, he looked determined to attack from the first delivery, smashing a sequence of 4, 6, 4, 0, 4, 4 off Deepak Chahar in the opening over.
The first ball arrived as a hip-high loosener outside off, and Jaiswal dispatched it to the midwicket boundary. The very next delivery was not a gift—short of a Test-length line outside off—and the old-school instinct to pull it into the leg-side existed for that kind of ball. In today’s T20 intensity, however, there are fewer “finishers” and everyone keeps accelerating, as CSK coach Stephen Fleming has described the era.
Jaiswal took the good length on the rise, turned it into a bad ball for the bowler, and launched it over midwicket. When Chahar tried to find the outswinger, Jaiswal reached out and still carved it over point for another four.
With the game already moving fast, MI had little choice once the damage was done after four balls. The yorker didn’t land as planned; it arrived as a full-toss and was drilled over mid-off for a further four. On the final delivery of the over, Chahar pitched it short and while it wasn’t a classic slot, Jaiswal opened the bat face and pierced the gap between cover and cover-point with precision.
That 22-run first over set the tone for everything that followed. Despite MI’s variety in their attack, they couldn’t slow Jaiswal down—though Hardik Pandya did manage to briefly check him by mixing length and pace changes.
The momentum shifted again when Bumrah altered his length and narrowly missed his yorker. Jaiswal sat into the crease and launched the next ball over the bowler’s head. Even AM Ghazanfar’s mystery spin was not enough to stop the onslaught as it was struck down the ground.
Expanding the shot repertoire
Jaiswal has long been adept at finding the “V” shape in front of him, and this season he has also been working the other “V” behind the wicket. He has made only three trips to the crease so far, yet he has already played three scoops—matching the number of scoops he previously hit in an entire season—and he has produced four ramps, exceeding his single-season ramp count.
In the closing over of the first innings, Shardul Thakur tried a slower, short delivery outside off. Jaiswal shuffled across, ended up off-balance across off stump, and still managed to scoop it over short fine leg—another sign that his range is widening rather than narrowing.
After being named Player of the Match, Jaiswal said that adapting across formats is never straightforward, but he is working hard. He added that each time he prepares, he focuses on what he can do, how he can improve, and on building different shots. He also emphasised that preparation helps him understand which strokes suit which wicket.
With his performances, Jaiswal would have looked like an easy choice for opening spots in most T20 line-ups. India, though, isn’t most teams. Abhishek Sharma and Sanju Samson already occupy the top order, with Ishan Kishan at number three. Shubman Gill, meanwhile, did not even make the T20 World Cup squad, and there has been growing talk about making room for Sooryavanshi—now 15 and eligible for international cricket.
For Jaiswal, the situation is clear: he has been on the outside looking in, and now he is doing everything in his power to earn a spot and force selection attention back onto his name.
