Yashasvi Jaiswal And Shubman Gill's Opening Pair BREAK Babar Azam-Mohammad Rizwan's Record As India Thump West Indies In 4th T20I

India's new opening pair of Shubman and Yashasvi was at their brutal best, putting up 165 for the first wicket. It helped them chase down 179-run target with nine wickets in hand.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill. (Source: Twitter)

India displayed a dominant show with the bat in the 4th T20I vs West Indies to win the match by 9 wickets on Saturday. Chasing 179 to win, the opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and Shubman Gill put on 165 for thr first wicket, breaking multiple records on the way. Gill got out after scoring 77 runs off 47 balls which included 3 fours and 5 sixes respectively. Yashasvi finished with an unbeaten 84 off 51 deliveries as he stroked 11 fours and 3 sixes respectively in his innings, batting at strike rate of 164.71. He was also picked as the Player of the Match.

In just his 2nd T20I, Yashasvi became the fourth-youngest batter to  score a T20I fifty for India, at 21 years and 227 days. The youngest is Rohit Sharma, at 20 years 143 days, when he struck a fifty not out vs South Africa in Durban during the 2007 T20 World Cup. The second youngest being Tilak Varma, who recently struck 51 vs West Indies in the 2nd T20, at the age of 20 years and 271 days. Third youngest is Rishabh Pant, who scored 58 vs West Indies at Chennai in 2018. Pant was then 21 years and 38 days old. 

_ Partnership!@ShubmanGill _ @ybj_19 #TeamIndia cruising in the chase as we move to 100/0 after 10 overs courtesy of the openers _

Follow the match - https://t.co/kOE4w9V1l0#WIvIND pic.twitter.com/56jCbYpOka

— BCCI (@BCCI) August 12, 2023

The opening pair of Shubman and Yashasvi also equalled the second-highest partnership for India in T20Is. They put on 165 for the opening wicket, equalling KL Rahul and Rohit Sharma's (165) record. The record for highest partnership for India in T20Is belongs to Deepak Hooda and Sanju Samson who had struck 176 runs in Malahide in 2022.  The fourth in this list is the opening partnership of 160 between Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma from 2018 vs Ireland.

Shubman and Yashasvi also broke a record held for two years by Pakistan's opening pair of Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan. Babar and Rizwan had stitched the highest opening partnership by any team against West Indies when they scored 165 in Karachi in 2021. That record is history now, quite literally as Shubman and Yashasvi made 7 runs more in their opening partnership in the 4th T20 of this five-match series. Previously, the highest opening stand vs West Indies by an Indian pair was 135 that Rohit and Rahul had put on at Wankhede in 2019.

Earlier, Arshdeep Singh had picked up 3 wickets for 38 runs from his 4 overs to help India restrict West Indies to 178 for 8 in 20 overs after they won the toss and opted to bat. Axar Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal and Mukesh Kumar picked up a wicket each while Kuldeep Yadav continues his good show and finished with 2 wickets.