IND vs WI, 2nd Test: Rohit Sharma, Yashasvi Jaiswal Reach Massive Milestone After Second Consecutive Century stand

As Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal continued to shine in the Indian opening slots, a new history was written on the first day of the second Test between India and the West Indies. After putting up a 229-run partnership in the opening Test, the Indian openers once again pulled off a brilliant start to India’s first innings in Trinidad. When they crossed the three-digit mark, the Rohit-Jaiswal alliance became the first Indian pair after 24 years to notch up two consecutive centurion stands in the same series.

The Indian openers contributed 139 runs together to the scoresheet before Jaiswal left for the pavilion for 57 runs. Previously an Indian opening pair registered two back-to-back centurion stands in 1999 when Sadagopan Ramesh and Devang Gandhi stitched 137 runs against New Zealand in a Mohali Test, followed by a 162-run partnership in Kanpur.

Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi Jaiswal now also hold the record for having the joint-most century partnerships in an overseas series. Earlier, legendary openers– Sunil Gavaskar and Chetan Chauhan– made it happen in 1979 on English soil, Virender Sehwag-Akash Chopra in 2003-04 in Australia and Sehwag-Wasim Jaffer in 2006 against West Indies.

Thanks to the Trinidad innings, the Rohit-Jaiswal duo also became only the fifth Indian opening pair to score two consecutive centurion stands. Sehwag and Murali Vijay top the list with three consecutive 100-plus partnerships that came in 2008-09.

For Rohit Sharma, it was one of his 15 half-centuries in Tests when the Indian captain scored 80 runs off 143 deliveries on Day 1 of the second Test. But Yashasvi Jaiswal deserves much praise for his effort as the youngster registered his maiden Test half-century following a dream-like debut in Dominica. The 21-year-old was the pick of the batters for India in the first Test, scoring 171 runs off 387 balls.

Following the dismissals of the openers, Shubman Gill and Ajinkya Rahane failed to stay longer at the crease, scoring 10 and 8 runs respectively. That’s when Virat Kohli took over the charge, joining hands with Ravindra Jadeja. At stumps, Kohli reached 87 runs off 161 balls, while Jadeja was batting at 36. India wrapped up the day with 288 runs, losing four wickets.