Jaiswal averts Titanic disaster

ON MOST NIGHTS before a game, Yashasvi Jaiswal listens to Celine Dion's chartbuster soundtrack from the movie Titanic, "Every Night in My Dreams."

- VENKATA KRISHNA

Whether he stuck to his tradition the night before the Visakhapatnam Test or not, he certainly composed a knock straight out of his dreams. It was near flawless and pivotal to his team's cause, helping them from crashing onto an iceberg and drowning into the seas, steering them to relatively safe shores with an undefeated 179, more than half of India's firstday total.

It is his most influential knockyet.The pitch was flat, but the slowness made stroke-making difficult. England's spinners were callow; one was a debutant, the other two had a combined experience of three games, but they bowled diligently. to keep India's progress under check.

The total of 336 for six is not formidable on this pitch, but the reason India reached this far only due to the 22-year-old's application and hunger for runs.

Every partner of his got a start, but departed without even a forty. The second highest score was Shubman Gill's 34. But Jaiswal waged a lonely battle, repelling the waves and playing his strokes, ensuring that India remained in the game, and in the series, having lost the first Test in Hyderabad.