Chucking the cut

Yashasvi Jaiswal headed straight to the pacers' nets on a hot morning at the Sinhalese Sports Club in Colombo with an idea. Two days out from the second Test, India hit the straps in nearly full attendance, and Jaiswal spent 30 minutes addressing a recent flaw in his game.

Jaiswal is now 30 Tests old and, staggeringly, has played each at a different venue. Test cricket began for him in the Caribbean; it took him to South Africa, Australia, back home, then England and now Sri Lanka. His three-year sojourn has already established him as a vital batting cog who can effectively bring his white-ball flair to red-ball batting. It reflects in his career strike-rate of 66.24.

His dismissal just three days ago in Galle showed a worrying pattern. Asitha Fernando got him chasing a length ball and edging it behind to Niroshan Dickwella. This was the fourth time in 27 deliveries since the start of the Indian home summer last October that Jaiswal had got out attempting the cut shot against pacers. In the two years before – from Test debut in July 2023 to last year's tour of England – he'd got out four times with that shot across 190 deliveries. The false shot percentage was up from 31.1 to 48.1.

On Friday, all of India's pacers – and the fast bowling coach – tested his resolve to play the shot or keep away from it. Auqib Nabi was the first to throw the left-hander a bait – a ball in the channel outside the off-stump there to be cut away. Jaiswal watched, leaned in, and let go. Gurnoor Brar bowled the same line but pushed the length up, and Jaiswal went for a cover drive and missed. His exasperated shout of 'hatt' reverberated in the empty venue.

That was the first and the last time he chased a delivery in that space. Between 10-ball stints with Devdutt Padikkal, he had conversations with head coach Gautam Gambhir. When he was back, Prasidh Krishna dished out balls outside off-stump. Once again, Jaiswal showed no interest in playing at it. Nabi and Gurnoor tried it from round the stumps too, and drew blanks as Jaiswal refused to budge. Morne Morkel jumped in, but to no avail.

He finished up and headed straight for the ice box for a couple of deserved bottles of water. Five minutes later, he was at the other nets facing the spinners. It was a morning where Jaiswal showed he could curb bad habits – but doing it in the nets might be a lot easier than in a match situation.

At the SSC, every little inch of knowledge and advantage will matter, especially for the bowlers. Surfaces at this venue have been a joy for batters, a fact Fernando and his fellow quicks will already be aware of. Whenever Jaiswal takes strike in his 31st venue in as many matches, the Sri Lanka quicks will test his patience in the dreaded zone. Whether he slashes at them from habit, or carries the new-found restraint, will define how his game goes.