Irani Cup: Yashavi Jaiswal's Brilliant Double Hundred Overshadows Abhimanyu Easwaran's Ton In ROI's 381/3

Yashasvi Jaiswal reaffirmed his status as the next big thing coming out of Mumbai's famed batting stable as his superlative double hundred propelled Rest of India to a commanding 381 for 3 against Madhya Pradesh on the opening day of Irani Cup, in Gwalior on Wednesday. Jaiswal's 213 off 259 balls was well complemented by opener Abhimanyu Easwaran's 154 (240 balls) after skipper Mayank Agarwal missed out on a run-feast on a batting belter.

The duo added a whopping 371 runs for the second wicket before both were dismissed in quick succession during the fag end of the day.

While Easwaran reached century way before Jaiswal, the Bengal right-hander paled in comparison to Mumbai southpaw's regal shot selection and the manner in which he dominated the two MP spinners -- off-break bowler Saransh Jain (0/103 in 24 overs) and left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya (0/90 in 20 overs).

Both spinners failed to hit the right length throughout the day and were short on most occasions. Since they failed to stop the scoreboard from ticking, there was no pressure on batters with as many as 47 boundaries and five sixes being hit on the day.

MP bowlers toiled hard but stand-in skipper Himanshu Mantri had no answer to Jaiswal, who followed up his 265 in Duleep Trophy final with a hundred in an Irani Cup game.

Jaiswal has had an underwhelming Ranji Trophy season in which he scored only 315 runs in five games with a single hundred and an average of 45, way less than his astounding career average of 81 in 15 first-class games.

Despite not being among top 50 run-getters in Ranji Trophy, Jaiswal was selected in the Rest of India squad purely because selectors and head coach Rahul Dravid believes in his ability. He is someone, who like Shubman Gill, has