'Jaiswal is a quick learner'

Sunil Gavaskar showered praise on emerging talent Yashasvi Jaiswal for his double century in the second Test against England.

Jaiswal scored 209 runs off 290 balls with 19 fours and 7 sixes.

'Yashasvi Jaiswal showed he is a quick learner by making sure he didn't miss out on a hundred as he did in the first Test match by scoring a magnificent double century in the second Test,' Gavaskar wrote in his column for the Mid-Day newspaper.

'India certainly needed someone to hold the innings together with a big century as once again most of the other batters got going like they did in the first Test and then gifted their wickets away,' Gavaskar added.

Expressing concern over the Indian team's batting, Gavaskar wanted the cricketers to play Ranji Trophy matches before the Tests, stressing the importance of staying in the right frame of mind.

'The batters' failure to get big runs also shows how important it is before a Test match series for both batters and bowlers to play some first-class games and get themselves in the right frame of mind for the longer format of the game,' Gavaskar wrote.

'The Ranji Trophy had started, and it would have been perfect timing for the batters to get into the groove for the Test series by playing a couple of games,' he added.

Despite Jaiswal's brilliance, the contrasting performances of Shreyas Iyer, K S Bharat and debutant Rajat Patidar in Visakhapatnam revealed a struggle to convert promising starts into substantial scores.

• England In India, 2024