admin
Yashasvi Jaiswal sent another pointed message to the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee on Sunday, smashing a 48-ball century on his return to the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy. The knock powered defending champions Mumbai to a four-wicket win over Haryana in a high-scoring Super League B thriller in Pune.
Jaiswal had surrendered meekly in his first appearance of the tournament against Hyderabad, a failure that severely dented Mumbai’s net run rate. On Sunday, however, the left-hander (101 off 50 balls) came out all guns blazing as Mumbai chased down Haryana’s stiff 235-run target in just 17.3 overs, keeping their summit-clash hopes alive.
He was ably supported by Sarfaraz Khan (64 off 24 balls), with the duo adding 88 runs in just 6.1 overs to turn a daunting chase into a walk in the park.
Jaiswal was named Player of the Match, but while collecting the INR 50,000 award, he displayed sportsmanship by requesting Sarfaraz to join him on stage.
The innings came amid growing concern over Shubman Gill’s form in T20Is. Gill has scored just 263 runs from 13 matches this year at a strike rate of a little over 143, hitting only four sixes—two of them in the powerplay. The run included a golden duck in the final T20I against South Africa.
The 23-year-old, who also struck a century in the final ODI against South Africa earlier this month, has made no secret of his World Cup ambitions. “My dream is to play the T20 World Cup, but I try to focus on my game and will wait for my time,” Jaiswal said on Agenda AajTak.
Once India’s first-choice T20I opener, Jaiswal last featured in the format during the white-ball tour of Sri Lanka in July last year. In 23 T20Is, he has scored 723 runs at a strike rate of 164.31, including one century and five fifties.
With Gill’s form failing to inspire confidence, Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir may yet be tempted to take one final look at Jaiswal in the New Zealand T20I series ahead of the global event.
