Yashasvi Jaiswal smashes career highest 265 in the Duleep Trophy final

Mumbai and West Zone rising young star Yashasvi Jaiswal smashed his way to a career highest first-class score of 265 in the second-innings of the Duleep Trophy final in Coimbatore. 

The elegant left-hander overhauled his previous best of 228 in competitive red-ball cricket through a marathon knock against South Zone in the second half of the marquee Indian domestic final. 

Jaiswal, who missed out in the first-innings, making just 1 off his 8-ball stay in the middle, made amends with a superlative effort with bat in hand, coming just 35 runs shy of recording his maiden triple century in first-class cricket. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal was out stumped off Krishnappa Gowtham on Day 4 of the West-South zonal encounter, but not before helping his team overcome a critical first-innings deficit of 57 runs and putting the pressure entirely on the opposition heading into the final innings of the game. 

Yashasvi Jaiswal's marathon 265 

At the point of Yashasvi Jaiswal's dismissal, West Zone found themselves firmly in the ascendancy of the fixture at 482/4, bagging a third-innings lead of 425. Jaiswal batted for 323 deliveries through his stay in the middle and batted at a strike-rate of 82.04, which showcased the control with which the batter operated and the domination he could exercise. 

Heading into the Duleep Trophy final, Jaiswal had a first-class average of 74.90 from his 6 matches in what happens to be a very young red-ball career for the 20-year-old. The knock in the second innings of the summit clash swelled his average to 78.07, with the left-hander making five scores of 100 and above in just seven games, including only one fifty. It shows not only Jaiswal's insatiable hunger for runs but also his ability and skill to convert starts into substantial scores. 

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The batter was extremely pleased with the 200-run milestone when he reached there a day earlier on Friday, unleashing a proper roar as he raised his bat to his West Zone teammates in celebration of the big score. 

Jaiswal still has a long way to go but his start with the bat in first-class augurs so well for his stocks in the Indian set-up, where his talent and promise shall hold him in good stead when first-class attacks test his depth and technique a lot more in the seasons ahead.