South Africa pacer Dale Steyn has advised India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal to curb his instinct to play the cut shot after he fell to Marco Jansen for the third time in the series. Steyn understands that it his Jaiswal's go-to shot but wants him to shelve it like the Indian great Sachin Tendulkar did with his cover drive in Australia during his unbeaten 241 against Australia in Sydney Test match during 2003-04 tour.
“It’s his go-to shot, and breaking that instinct is tough. When you see the ball in your zone, you go for it. But maybe it’s something he needs to consciously cut down on. I remember Sachin once removed the drive from his game in Australia. Jaiswal may also need to say, ‘Unless it’s in a specific area, I won’t play it. In this area, I’ll trust my defence’,” Steyn said on JioHotstar after Day 4’s play at Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati.
“It was a bit of a false shot by Jaiswal. It’s his default option — he likes playing that shot. He is probably so used to right-arm bowlers angling the ball across him that playing that shot feels natural. But with Marco Jansen being a left-armer, it looks like the ball will angle away and give him room, but very often it’s tighter than he expects. That’s why he sometimes drags the ball back onto his stumps or edges it. As it pitches, it often straightens instead of going across, and that’s how it finds the edge — either side of the bat — leading to bowled, caught in slips, or caught behind,” he added.
Kumble criticises Jaiswal’s approach against Jansen
Chasing a target of 549, Jaiswal edged one to Kyle Verreynne off Jansen's bowling. The opener scored 13 runs from 20 deliveries. India legend Anil Kumble feels the opener was trying to force the pace and ended up losing his wicket.
“It was a poor shot from Yashasvi Jaiswal. They certainly tested both the openers, and Jaiswal in particular got a lot of short-pitched deliveries from Marco Jansen. Eventually, he fell playing his favourite cut shot — a shot he has scored many runs from, but also gets out to. He was trying to force the pace and ended up getting out to Jansen,” Kumble said.
“When you’re looking to score runs and when short deliveries keep coming, you feel that’s the only scoring option. Even the first ball Jaiswal faced in this innings was a short one that hit his glove,” he further explained.
Like many in the Indian batting lineup, Jaiswal had a forgettable home series against the Proteas. He managed to score just 83 runs from four innings. His only half-century came in the first innings of the ongoing Guwahati Test.