Former India cricketer turned commentator, Aakash Chopra, has highlighted Yashasvi Jaiswal’s major weakness ahead of the fourth Test against Australia in Melbourne. Notably, the young Indian opener got the ongoing series off to a roaring start with a magnificent century in the first Test in Perth.
The southpaw scored a magnificent 161 in the second innings which helped India win by a massive margin of 295 runs. However, since then, he’s failed to replicate his heroics, having scored just 32 runs in the next four innings. Analysing his performance in the series so far, Chopra highlighted Jaiswal’s problems against left-arm fast bowling as he has been dismissed three out of five times by Mitchell Starc.
“The truth is that Yashasvi Jaiswal is having problems against left-arm pace, and this problem has not started now. It’s been happening regularly. This was happening in the IPL as well, which means it is not a format-specific problem. It is not a Mitchell Starc problem,” Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
Jaiswal has been dismissed six times by a left-arm fast bowler averaging just 9 with two ducks to his name in Test cricket. Further speaking ahead, Chopra mentioned how Mitchell Starc finding his form back has also brought down Jaiswal’s debacle.
Onus on Jaiswal to get India off to good start in Melbourne
“His numbers against left-arm pace are not that good and that is getting exploited because, for some strange reason, Mitchell Starc is back to his best. We felt there was a slight slide in his career but he has again started to bowl with the same rhythm,” he added.
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Ahead of the series, several experts had predicted Jaiswal to finish as the leading run scorer. The youngster came into the rubber under massive expectations, being the second-highest run scorer in Tests in 2024, but has failed to score consistently. In the series so far, he’s scored 193 runs from six innings at an average of 38.60 with one century and one duck to his name. Hence, it’s crucial from India’s perspective that Jaiswal gets them off to a good start in Melbourne and shields the rest of the batting order from the new ball.
