'His capacity for hard work, relentless application and focus, allied to his God-given gifts, has made him a champion every Indian can be proud of.'
A month and four days before his 23rd birthday, Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed his maiden Test century in Australia on Day 3 of the 1st Test in Perth on Sunday, November 24, 2024.
The belligerent opener got to his ton with a six -- he played a ramp shot off a bouncer from Josh Hazlewood and the ball flew to fine leg and hit the advertising padding.
The entire Indian team in the pavillion and Sunil Gavaskar in the commentary box were seen giving Jaiswal a standing ovation on reaching the milestone.
'This boy's is special, He really is special. Looking at where he's come from and the way he's been batting, the way he's been handling fame, it's not easy sometimes to handle fame. Against England, he scored more than 700 runs in five Test matches, two double hundreds earlier in the year,' Gavaskar said during commentary on Saturday.
'And he looks so hungry for runs, which is what you want as a batter. A lot of us were told, get a hundred. I think he says, I want to get a 150 or 200. He's hungry for runs, and that's exactly what Indian cricket needs,' Gavaskar added.
'What an extraordinary moment to watch Yashaswi Jaiswal reach his hundred!' exclaimed Shashi Tharoor, cricket lover and MP.
'His is not just a story of remarkable talent. It is, in fact, a tale of how overcoming extreme adversity and poverty builds character and gives some a steely determination to succeed. His capacity for hard work, relentless application and focus, allied to his God-given gifts, has made him a champion every Indian can be proud of,' Tharoor tweeted, tagging Jaiswal in his post.
'That the most extraordinary way I've seen anyone get a hundred,' former Australian captain Mark Taylor noted in the commentary box.
'He looks every inch the chosen one!' commentator Gerard Whateley said on Sen Cricket.
Facing Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Nathan Lyon, Jaiswal redeemed himself after a first innings duck.
On scoring his fourth Test century, Jaiswal joined Gavaskar (1977), Sachin Tendulkar (1992) and Virat Kohli (2018) to become only the fourth Indian cricketer to score a Test century in Perth.
He also became only the third Indian to score a century in his first Test in Australia after M L Jaisimha achieved the feat during the second inning of the Brisbane Test in January 1968. Coming out to bat at No. 6, Jaisimha scored 101 runs.
Gavaskar also scored a century (113) in his first Test Down Under in the second innings of the Brisbane Test in December 1977.
Jaswal also become the first Indian opener after K L Rahul to score a century in a Test in Australia. Rahul had scored 110 in the Sydney Test in January 2015.
At 22, Jaiswal joined Tendulkar, Rishabh Pant,Rahul and Kohli to be among the youngest Indians to score a Test century in Australia.
Sachin Tendulkar at Sydney: 18 years, 253 days
Sachin Tendulkar at Perth: 18 years, 283 days
Rishabh Pant at Sydney: 21 years, 91 days
Dattu Phadkar at Adelaide: 22 years, 42 days
K L Rahul at Sydney: 22 years, 263 days
Yashasvi Jaiswal at Perth: 22 years, 330 days
Virat Kohli at Adelaide: 23 years, 80 days.
