Yashasvi Jaiswal Equals Virat Kohli’s Monumental Record in 4th England Test

In the fourth Test match in Ranchi, India’s opener Yashasvi Jaiswal tied former skipper Virat Kohli’s incredible record in the format on Monday despite failing to score fifty runs in the second innings against England. In the fourth inning of the Test match, Jaiswal was removed by Joe Root for 37 runs, which he combined with an incredible, age-defying catch by James Anderson. In the current series against England, Jaiswal has scored four half-centuries or more, including two double-hundreds, for a total of 618 runs. With his 37-run knock on Monday, he matched Virat Kohli’s record for the most runs an Indian hitter has ever scored in an England series. During England’s 2016–17 series in India, Kohli scored 655 runs.

In the Ranchi Test, Jaiswal did appear certain to surpass the mark and set a record for himself—possibly even with a second straight fifty—which would have tied him with players like Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Sardesai, V Manjrekar, and Kohli for the most fifty-plus scores in a series against England. However, Root dismissed him in the first hour of Day 4. The left-handed hitter shimmied down the track against the flighted offering outside off, clearly itching to take on Root for a huge shot. At a backward point, though, he ended up slicing it to Anderson, who made an outstanding catch to give England the much-needed breakthrough.

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In addition to having the opportunity to break Virat Kohli’s record, Jaiswal will be the first Indian batsman to reach 700 runs in a series against England with one game remaining in the series—the fifth Test in Dharamsala early next month. By overtaking Graham Gooch (752 runs in the 1990 series) and Joe Root (737 runs in the 2021/22 series), he might also become the top run-getter in the history of an India-England series. Additionally, Jaiswal will get the opportunity to set a new record for the most runs scored by a batsman in a series in the premier India Test league. Even now, Sunil Gavaskar, who amassed 774 runs in the 1970–71 West Indies series, remains the all-time leader.