Veteran India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has applauded youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal after his excellent knock on Day 1 of the first Test between India and England in Hyderabad on Thursday (January 25). In reply to England’s 246 in the first innings, Jaiswal got off to a stunning start. He smashed an unbeaten 76 off 70 balls, including nine fours and three sixes as well. And, Ashwin said Jaiswal’s knock to that of wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant because of their aggressive nature as well.

“That’s the beauty of playing this sport at this level,” Ashwin told the host broadcaster after the day’s play. “Somebody breaks through the system, doesn’t have any excess baggage, had a great time in the IPL, had a wonderful start to his first-class cricket. He’s literally not put a foot wrong. He’s walked into Test cricket, he’s taken it like a fish to water. His carefree approach is enabling him to play some wonderful shots.”

“I am quite enjoying it,” he continued. “I get a feeling sometimes when he’s batting, I am seeing Rishabh Pant there. Both of them bat similarly to the left-arm spinner. Jaiswal has got a lot of shots, his range is pretty wide and the fearless approach at the moment is serving him really well.”

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However, Yashasvi Jaiswal’s quickfire knock helped India take the driver’s seat, ending the day at 119/1 after 23 overs as well. They currently trail by 127 runs, with Shubman Gill (14*) at the other end. Captain Rohit Sharma failed to do well on a great start, throwing away his wicket after scoring 24 off 27 balls as well.

Meanwhile, Indian spinners did well to bowl out England for 246 runs after Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett started well. The hosts had the visitors at 155/7 but Ben Stokes’ steady 70-run innings helped the team to post a challenging total. And, Ashwin said that 30-40 fewer runs would’ve been ideal for them as well.

“240 was a very, very good competitive total I thought,” he continued. “When we left the field, I was thinking probably 30-40 runs more than what we would have liked. The start that Jaiswal and Rohit gave us is making us breathe a little easy. Someone going on and making a hundred tomorrow will put us in the driver’s seat,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded.