Yashasvi Jaiswal is in splendid form in Test cricket for Team India. The swashbuckling opener carries the reputation of a batter who is not hesitant to play his shots. He has scored 1209 runs in 12 matches with an average of 57.57 this year. Today, he broke former India opener and current Head Coach, Gautam Gambhir’s 16-year-old record for the most runs scored by an Indian left-handed batter in a calendar year.
Gambhir had scored 1134 runs in 2008 with an average of 70.67 in eight matches with six fifties and three hundreds. Jaiswal achieved this feat with his unbeaten 90-run knock on Day 2 of the ongoing Perth Test against Australia as part of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. If he manages to add at least 10 more runs to the tally on Day 3, he will register his maiden ton in Australia.
Jaiswal breaks Brendon McCullum’s record
Not just Gambhir’s record, the southpaw also broke swashbuckling batter, Brendon McCullum’s record for most sixes in Tests in a calendar year. The former New Zealand opener scored 33 maximums in nine matches back in 2014. Jaiswal took 12 matches to reach the 34 sixes tally as he smashed Australia’s ace spinner Nathan Lyon for a six.
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The second and third on the list are England’s Test captain, Ben Stokes and former Australia wicketkeeper-batter, Adam Gilchrist. Stokes smashed 26 sixes in 2022, whereas Gilchrist struck as many sixes in 2005.
Here is the list of players with the most sixes scored in a calendar year in Tests:
Player | Country | Number of Sixes | Year |
Yashasvi Jaiswal | India | 34 | 2024 |
Brendon McCullum | New Zealand | 33 | 2022 |
Ben Stokes | England | 22 | 2006 |
Adam Gilchrist | Australia | 22 | 2005 |
Virender Sehwag | India | 22 | 2008 |
Andrew Flintoff | England | 21 | 2004 |