After the Lord’s Test defeat, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal was spoken to, because he was out for a duck playing an impetuous shot. Who tries to flat-bat Jofra Archer over his head when he is bowling at 90mph and the team needs just 193 to take the lead in the series? Jaiswal was told to come out of his comfort zone, play grinding cricket and be judicious in his shot-selection against pacers.
The left-hander followed the instructions to the T. The opener put his head down and curbed his instincts. He saw off the first spells of all pacers on a challenging track but got out to left-arm spinner Liam Dawson, that too playing a defensive shot. Batsmen shouldn’t be praised only when they compile hundreds with flawless strokes hit from the middle of the bat. They should also be applauded for showing the grit to survive when it’s not their day.
Jaiswal’s 107-ball 58 can’t be called a masterly knock. Laborious fits better. This wasn’t the usual Jaiswal who tries to steer balls that are vaguely short through point or leans into back-of-length deliveries to drive them through the covers.
Jais-balling in England! 🎯#YashasviJaiswal notches up his 8th 50+ score in just 9 matches vs England!
A rock-solid start once again for #TeamIndia 💪🇮🇳#ENGvIND 👉 4th TEST, DAY 1 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar 👉 https://t.co/0VxBWU8ocO pic.twitter.com/nyPdRGIV0j
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 23, 2025
He did get the rub of the green. There were several occasions in the morning when Chris Woakes’s deliveries would all but graze Jaiswal’s bat. He even edged a few – twice in the first over by Woakes. But the edges didn’t reach the slips. This wasn’t Jaiswal being plain lucky, his soft hands and limp wrists too should get credit for his survival.
Woakes bowling round the wicket to the left-handed Jaiswal was the feature event of the morning session. This wasn’t a fiery red-hot pitch that outsiders – read Indian players and commentators – predicted. Nor could the 22 yards at Old Trafford be dismissed as dead, as the locals wanted the world to believe. This pitch had tufts of grass and also a spot from where the ball seamed around.
Woakes was asking questions, the gloomy overcast morning made them difficult to answer. He would make the ball snake in and move late. Somehow, it was Jaiswal facing Woakes most of the time.
The opener had a simple plan against the best England bowler of the day. He would defend or leave balls that were in the good-length area. Only if the ball was unambiguously full would Jaiswal drive them. This meant he either got a boundary or was happy to concede a dot ball. From the 36 balls he faced from Woakes in his 8-over spell, Jaiswal got 12 runs from three fours.
Playing against instinct
The talented batsman, who many in England see as one of the Gen Next Fab Four, enhanced his image with a half-century. Like all great batsmen, in the middle of a series, Jaiswal tweaked his approach. Before lunch for close to half an hour, Jaiswal didn’t score a single; he had shut shop. If the bowler were bowling tight lines, he was respecting them. This was not a day to play ego-cricket, this wasn’t that Perth day last year in Australia when he could tell Mitchell Starc – “You are coming at me slow”.
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This wasn’t a batsman tweaking his technique, but changing his mindset and batting mood. As he was told, Jaiswal was ready to get out of his normal comfort zone to find new ones that could make him a complete batsman.
This was not the track where the ball was flying off the pitch nor was it taking off unannounced but the overhead conditions made batting tough. Early wickets would have exposed the middle order to Woakes, who certainly deserved more than a couple of wickets in the morning. Jaiswal, along with Rahul (46 off 98), made things easier for the batsmen that followed. They played out 30 overs – the initial period of play when the Duke ball is most threatening.
Ironically, he got out to the guile of the wily Dawson. Against the spinner, Jaiswal was trying to be careful. It wasn’t the Jaiswal whose eyes would light up on seeing a slow bowler. He didn’t jump out of the crease to send the ball into the stands; he stayed back watchfully.
✅ 1000 runs vs ENG
✅ 8th 50+ score vs ENG
✅ 3rd 50+ score of the seriesAnother day, another set of milestones for #YashasviJaiswal against England! 💪#ENGvIND 👉 4th TEST, DAY 1 | LIVE NOW on JioHotstar 👉 https://t.co/0VxBWU8ocO pic.twitter.com/cELpLDVgI4
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 23, 2025
In the spinner’s first over, he edged a ball to slip but it didn’t carry. At this stage, Jaiswal didn’t listen to his instincts. He didn’t think of disturbing the left-arm orthodox bowler’s line and length, unsettle the returning veteran and hit him out of the attack. Soon he would get out defending a Dawson ball that didn’t turn as much as the trajectory suggested. Jaiswal edged into the hands of the lone slip.
On the way to the dressing room, he might have thought that he should have taken on the spinner. But that’s cricket. When to defend, when to attack – that’s what games like this will make the 23-year-old understand.
