Legendary Indian opener Virender Sehwag demolished the world-class bowling attack of the Proteas when he made his Test debut in the memorable Bloemfontein encounter between Sourav Ganguly’s Team India and hosts South Africa. The 2001 Test series opener featured a batting masterclass from batting legend Sachin Tendulkar, who smashed 155 off 184 balls. Debutant in Bloemfontein, Sehwag played as a middle-order batter and scored 105 off 173 balls. However, Sehwag’s maiden Test ton failed to inspire Team India as the visitors suffered a crushing nine-wicket defeat at the hands of South Africa.
On Tuesday, India will resume its ICC World Test Championship (WTC) campaign with the series opener against South Africa. Batting legend Rahul Dravid, who opened the innings with Shiv Sunder Das in the 2001 Test series, has once again returned to South Africa as the head coach of the Asian giants. Speaking of comebacks, skipper Rohit Sharma will play his first international game after the ICC World Cup 2023 final. India’s all-format captain will open the innings with young gun Yashasvi Jaiswal in the upcoming 1st Test at Centurion’s SuperSport Park.
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Just like Sehwag, youngster Jaiswal announced himself in Test cricket with a century on debut. Jaiswal smashed a brilliant century against the West Indies to become the first Indian batter after Sehwag to register a Test hundred outside Asia in his debut game. With Jaiswal arriving in South Africa for his next big challenge, former Indian opener Gautam Gambhir has opined that it will be unfair to expect a century from the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Boxing Day Test.
‘Don’t expect too much’
“Extremely different challenge, pace attack and situations because the West Indies have subcontinental-type wickets. Here, when you will play Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi or Nandre Burger, there will be bounce. Yashasvi Jaiswal has the game, both front and back foot, but it will be a very different challenge. I believe he will get better with this experience. Don’t expect too much, that a young player will come and score a century or a double century in the first match,” Gambhir told Star Sports.
‘Even if he scores 25-30 runs…’
The Boxing Day Test will be Jaiswal’s third red-ball game for India. In his first two matches for Rohit’s men, the 21-year-old has scored 266 runs. The young Indian opener has a century and half-century to his name in three Test innings. India’s batting lineup is also spearheaded by Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer and KL Rahul. “He might do that (score a century) as well but even if he scores 25-30 runs and gives a start to India, he will head home after becoming a better player, whether it is Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill or Shreyas Iyer. Ten-15 years ago, we never used to scrutinize the players so much when they used to go on their first tour to South Africa or Australia. If a young player goes to South Africa or Australia for the first time now, he faces as much criticism as he would have faced if he hadn’t scored runs in India,” Gambhir added.