As he did on his Duleep Trophy debut, Yashasvi Jaiswal got his name into the record books by scoring a sensational double hundred in his maiden Irani Cup appearance, slamming 213 (259b, 30x4, 3x6) here at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium on Wednesday.
Jaiswal and Abhimanyu Easwaran, who made an equally brilliant 154 (240b, 17x4, 2x6), powered the Rest of India to 381 for three against Madhya Pradesh at stumps on day one.
Rest of India skipper Mayank Agarwal opted to bat first on a pitch with generous grass cover and fell cheaply when Avesh Khan had him caught behind with a delivery that seamed away.
But the joy was short-lived for MP as Jaiswal, and Abhimanyu shredded the bowling attack apart, adding 371 runs for the second wicket, the highest ever in the Irani Cup.
In the morning, Abhimanyu was the aggressor picking six boundaries in the first hour with crisply timed flicks through the leg side.
At the other end, Jaiswal started cautiously, taking 22 balls to get off the mark before he displayed his full array of shots. He began by going after the spinners by stepping out to hit down the ground and used the sweep shot too effectively.
On a slow pitch, Abhimanyu used the crease well to punch off the backfoot and got to his hundred in style by lofting Saransh over midwicket for a six. Soon, Jaiswal got to his hundred with a boundary and then took off. The Mumbai batter got to his 150 with two of the best shots of the day, driving pacer Ankit Kushwah down the ground.
Even though there was not a lot of help for the bowlers, the hosts made it worse for themselves when Yash Dubey dropped Jaiswal twice in three balls when he was on 176 and 181 off Avesh and off-spinner Shubham Sharma respectively.
Jaiswal eventually got to his 200 when he cut a wide delivery from Shubham before Avesh broke through his defence with the second new ball, but not before he put his side in a commanding position.
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