It was one of those crisp Delhi mornings that often mellow into history by stumps.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, still only 23 and already the subject of cricketing folklore, walked out to bat as though answering a familiar call.
By the time the sun set behind the Kotla stands, India had mounted 318 for 2 and Jaiswal, unbeaten on 173, had carved his name deeper into the record books.
His innings, 253 balls long and gleaming with 22 boundaries, was one of poise, calculation and unflinching ambition.
The day had begun with openers K.L. Rahul and Jaiswal exercising patience against the new ball, letting time and discipline soften the West Indies’ challenge.
Once the hardness of the morning spell ebbed, Jaiswal’s strokeplay began to bloom — compact, fluent, and precise.
He rotated the strike, punished anything wayward, and with every passing over, tightened India’s grip on the match.
Rahul departed after setting the tone, but by then the game was already bowing to Jaiswal’s authority.
When the young opener finally walked off at day’s end, his blade had rewritten statistics and rattled history’s dust.
This was his seventh Test hundred, his third on home soil, and second against the West Indies.
No Indian opener since his debut in July 2023 has come close to such consistency. In fact, while Jaiswal alone has struck seven centuries, all other Indian openers combined have managed six.
Among openers worldwide, only England’s Ben Duckett trails faintly behind with four in the same span.
The records did not end there.
Jaiswal’s latest ton placed him in a distinguished league — only three cricketers have scored more centuries before turning 24: Don Bradman with 12, Sachin Tendulkar with 11, and Garfield Sobers with nine.
With seven centuries, Jaiswal now shares company with Javed Miandad, Graeme Smith, Alastair Cook and Kane Williamson at that age.
But perhaps what defines him most is his penchant for turning hundreds into monumental knocks.
Of his seven centuries, five have crossed 150, a feat that propels him past Tendulkar, Miandad and Smith for most 150-plus scores before turning 24.
Only Bradman, with eight such efforts, stands higher.
Jaiswal’s string of towering innings has also tied him with Kane Williamson and Marnus Labuschagne for the most 150-plus scores in the history of the World Test Championship — all of them still adrift of Joe Root’s eight.
His partnerships too tell their own story. The stand with Sai Sudarshan marked the eleventh time Jaiswal had featured in a century partnership in Tests, and his first with a left-hander.
Only Joe Root, with sixteen, has been part of more 100-plus stands since Jaiswal’s debut.
As the light dimmed and Delhi’s autumn air settled on the field, captain Shubman Gill, calm on 20 from 68 balls, stood alongside his young opener, the two unbeaten and unhurried.
The scoreboard read 318 for 2, but the day belonged to one man — a boyish southpaw who has turned numbers into narratives and centuries into symphonies.
Yashasvi Jaiswal walked off without a flourish, his bat held low, but the echoes of his innings will likely linger far longer than the applause that followed him to the pavilion.