2024-03-04 19:39:03
India’s opening batsman Yasshwi Jaiswal had a great month of February. He scored two double centuries in two consecutive Tests at home against England. With that, this batsman has made it to the ICC’s list of the best in February.
Along with Jaiswal, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, who scored two centuries in a Test against South Africa, is in the race for the man of the month. And Sri Lanka’s opening batsman Pathum Nisanka, who scored a double century and a century in the ODI against Afghanistan.
India lost to England in the first Test at home. Jaiswal scored a double century (209) even though India could not take advantage in the first innings of the second Test. In the end, India won by 106 runs thanks to Jasprit Bumrah’s brilliant bowling. Bumrah won the man-of-the-match race despite double centurion Jaiswal.
In the next Test, Jaiswal scored only 10 runs in the first innings. But in the second innings, Hankan scored a double century again (214). But India won by a huge margin of 434 runs due to Ravindra Jadeja’s all-round skills.
Apart from scoring two double centuries in February, Jaiswal set several records. Among them, he touched the long-standing record of hitting the maximum 12 sixes in an innings. Besides, at the age of only 22 years and 49 days, he also made a record by scoring back-to-back double centuries. Jaiswal became the youngest third batsman to score two double centuries. This record was previously held by Sir Donald Bradman and Vinod Kambli. Jaiswal scored 560 runs in three Tests in February. Average 112. 20 sixes!
Meanwhile, New Zealand won the Test series for the first time against South Africa on the back to back centuries of Kane Williamson in February. He scored 118 runs in the first innings of the first test and 109 runs in the second innings to give the team a big victory of 281 runs. This is the first time in his career that Williamson scored two centuries in a Test.
He then scored an unbeaten 133 in the fourth innings of the second Test to give the team a 7-wicket victory and win the series for the first time against the Proteas. It was Williamson’s 32nd Test century of his career. Scored the most centuries by any cricketer who continues to play through it. Besides, Steven Smith played the least innings and made a record of 32 centuries.
Nissanka’s feat of being in the race for the best with Jaiswal and Williamson is not small. He became the first Sri Lankan to score a double century in ODIs by playing an unbeaten innings of 210 runs in the first match against Afghanistan. He then scored another century (118) in the third and final match to secure a 3-0 series win.