Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting has heaped praise on India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal following his century on Test debut against the West Indies in Dominica.
Speaking to the ICC Review, Ponting said the southpaw almost flicked a switch and turned into a superstar overnight after the IPL 2023 season, where he scored 625 runs from 14 innings at a strike rate of 163.61 with one century and five fifties while playing for Rajasthan Royals.
Subsequently, the 21-year-old was included in India’s squad for the WTC final against Australia as a stand-by player last month and he was named in the 16-member squad for the two-match Test series against the West Indies.
As it turned out, Jaiswal repaid the faith of the selectors and the team management as he slammed 171 off 387 balls in India’s only innings in Dominica and earned the Player-of-the-Match award.
“I mean Jaiswal’s IPL was something special. He almost just flicked a switch and turned into a superstar overnight. Everyone knew that he was a talented youngster, but what I saw in this year's IPL, he's got all sorts of talent,” said Ponting.
“There's a lot of those young Indian guys that I can't wait to see play Test cricket and yet you look at their domestic records as well and you can't help but be impressed. I'm on record saying that I think Gaikwad’s the same as Jaiswal. I think he could be a very serious Test match player or all-format player really in the next couple of years,” he added.
Ponting went on to compare Jaiswal’s start in international cricket to that of Prithvi Shaw, saying that the Delhi Capitals opener is also capable of making a mark at the highest level.
Akin to Jaiswal, Shaw had slammed a century on his Test debut against the West Indies at Rajkot in 2018.
“If I wind the clock back a couple of years, I'd put Prithvi Shaw into that category as well. I still think he's capable of getting back to that sort of, you know, if he wants to do it enough, I'm sure he can get back up there because talent-wise there's no doubt in the talent he's got,” said Ponting.
Coming to the Dominica Test, India thrashed the West Indies by an innings and 141 runs to take an unbeatable 1-0 lead in the series.
In reply to West Indies’ first innings score of 150, the visitors piled up 421/5 (declared) on the board, taking a lead of 271 runs. Besides Jaiswal, skipper Rohit Sharma (103) smashed a hundred for India while star batter Virat Kohli returned with 76.
In the second innings, the hosts once again faltered with the bat, getting bowled out for a paltry 130 to lose the match inside three days.
For India, R Ashwin finished the match with 12-wicket haul, including seven scalps in West Indies’ second essay.
