Jaiswal blasts epic double century, India set England target of 557

Team India's fiery opener, Yashasvi Jaiswal, brought the crowds to their feet on Sunday, as he smashed a second double century in successive Tests during Day 4 of the match in Rajkot. Jaiswal produced a heroic effort, returning to bat after battling back spasms the previous day to wreck the English bowling attack. He brought his double century in 231 balls, smashing 14 fours and 10 sixes en route to the mark.

Having recovered from back spasms that sidelined him after scoring 104 runs on the third day evening, Jaiswal was padded up right at the start of Day 4 as Shubman Gill and Kuldeep Yadav resumed the Indian innings. Following Gill's unfortunate run out on 91, Jaiswal arrived and showed similar grit as he did during the start of the Indian innings, making a conventional restart to his innings.

The pitch showed minimal signs of deteriorating, and England's spinners and fast bowlers persisted in their efforts; however, Jaiswal displayed resolute batting, avoiding unnecessary risks as he steadily accumulated runs.

As Jaiswal settled into his innings, he found his rhythm, with runs flowing steadily. Towards the end of the first session, reminiscent of his performance on Day 3, Jaiswal opted to fasten his scoring rate, hitting two sixes off Rehan Ahmed's two overs. He also smashed another maximum against Joe Root.

By Lunch, Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 149 runs off 189 balls, and he swiftly reached his 150-run milestone immediately after the break, facing James Anderson.

Just as Anderson's over had ignited Jaiswal's aggression on Saturday, the trend continued on Day 4, with the young opener hitting three consecutive sixes off the veteran English pacer in the 85th over.

Jaiswal's scoring rate remained high as he raced to 180 – surpassing the strike rate of 80 – as he continued to find boundaries effortlessly. The 22-year-old reached his second double century in a quick time, and made it into an elusive list of batters to reach a unique feat for India.

This achievement made Jaiswal only the second Indian batter to score two double centuries in consecutive Tests of a series, joining Virat Kohli, who accomplished this feat against Sri Lanka in 2017.

Overall, Vinoo Mankad is the only other Indian batter to have scored two double centuries in a series (against New Zealand, 1955/56), but his 200+ scores didn't come in successive Tests.