Yashaswi Jaiswal has hit three hundreds in seven Test matches and the lowest he has been dismissed for after reaching those three figures is 171. That hunger, he says, comes from the challenges that he faced while growing up with the ambition of becoming an international cricketer.
Yashaswi Jaiswal moved from his hometown in Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai at the age of 13 with little more than visions of doing what he is doing right now and those early days where he sometimes spent nights at the groundsman’s tents in the maidans have inculcated in him a sense that he needs to make the most of every opportunity he has.
The greatest of cricketers get nervous in the 90s. The fear of getting out when you are close to achieving a big milestone is common. But when you are Yashaswi Jaiswal, who has overcome every possible fear in life, how can you be afraid of anything is now the question for all the experts around the world post his emphatic 209 in the second test at Vizag.
The 22-year-old Yashaswi Jaiswal was batting on 94 in the second Test against England on Friday when he walked down the track and lifted the ball over the long-on fence to bring up his century. It was Yashaswi Jaiswal’s second Test hundred after he started his career with a magnificent 171 against the West Indies on his debut last year.
The opening batter kissed the helmet and raised his arms multiple times in celebration on the first day of the Vizag Test enroute his journey to his first double hundred later in the test match perhaps thanking the sky that was his only ‘rooftop’ when he had no place to stay at the age of 10.
Come 3rd test match, nothing changed this time around only the innings for that matter changed Not first but it was the second innings that Yashaswi Jaiswal choose to launch monster attack on the Englishmen to post his second double century this time unbeaten on 214* with 12 hits over the fence and infuse a new terminology “Jazball ” over Bazball specialist England.
Yashaswi Jaiswal the new prodigy in Indian cricket team.
Yashaswi Jaiswal was only 10 when he moved to Mumbai in pursuit of playing cricket. But the young boy had to struggle a lot to chase his dreams in the big city. Initially, when he had nowhere to go, a dairy owner provided him with a rooftop, but with a condition—the boy had to help him out at the shop. However, since Jaiswal was mostly playing cricket and couldn’t contribute much, the shopkeeper threw him out.
He was on the streets again—with a bat and a bag in his hands. He was left with no option but to move into one of the tents at Azad Maidan, a local ground in Mumbai. He lived alongside the groundsman and sold pani puri in his spare time to earn his livelihood. “We told him to come back, but he said that he would return to the village only when he becomes a player… he was happy to stay in the tent,” says his mother.
The left-handed batter’s first step towards success was when he smashed an astonishing 319 runs and took 13 wickets in a multi-day match of Haris Shield, one of the top school-level tournaments in Mumbai. He hasn’t looked back since. He scored tones of runs at the school level and then for the Mumbai U-16 and U-19 teams. This led to his selection in the Indian U-19 team in 2018.
During his first stint with the national team, the elegant batter emerged as the highest run-getter and steered India to the title in the 2018 U-19 Asia Cup. Jaiswal’s hunger for runs was unreal. He looked unstoppable, topping the batting charts in almost every tournament. The southpaw finished as the highest scorer in the ICC U-19 World Cup 2020 as well.
By now, he had made a name for himself in domestic cricket, pilling huge runs for Mumbai in both the Ranji Trophy—the premier domestic tournament—and white ball events. On the back of these performances, he was picked by Rajasthan Royals for Rs2.4 crore in 2020 in the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction.
For someone who had lived in tents, this kind of money was crazy, but Jaiswal had come a long way in life by then. Fame and money hardly mattered to him, although he was extremely young. Jaiswal had walked through the hardest paths and all that he wanted was to play cricket at the highest level.
Yashaswi Jaiswal a journey from IPL to professional batter for Indian National team.
“Money doesn’t matter to me at all. It was just important that I got a chance to play in the IPL. Money is a by-product of your success. If you do well in any field, you will get some reward, but to get good reward, you need to keep working hard and follow the right processes,” Yashaswi Jaiswal told The Times of India (TOI) after the IPL 2020 auction.
He struggled a bit early on in the IPL, but he kept his spirit intact. He worked on his basics and continuously improved his game. IPL-2023 was the turning point for him. With 625 runs in 14 matches, he won the Emerging Player of the Season Award. Jaiswal didn’t just score those runs but also scored them at a staggering rate, including a record 13-ball fifty. He went after the bowlers from ball one, which made him the talk of the cricketing fraternity.
His consistent performances and years of hard work bore fruit when he earned his Test cap in July 2023 against the West Indies. Jaiswal’s hunger for runs was different. He didn’t settle for less. His introduction to international cricket was glorious—he made a mammoth 171 in his first match, making him the 17th Indian cricketer to score a century on debut.
He soon made his debut in T20Is as well. In his short international career so far, Jaiswal has already left a lasting impression. He scored a brilliant 80 in the first Test against England last week before his career best 209 in the second test match at Vizag.. The knock earned the youngster praise from all corners, including his idol, Sachin Tendulkar .
If this was not enough Yashaswi followed suit in the following test at Rajkot and slammed England out of the match with an epic 214* ,his 3rd century in a small but effective 7 match test career and his 2nd double hundred in as many as 2 consecutive test matches a record which only Virat Kohli and Vinod Kambli has achieved till date.
Playing aggressively yet remaining composed has been a style of Yashaswi on the cricket field which has given him success over the recent past and his bowling coach at the Rajasthan Royals camp and Former Sri Lankan Legend Lasith Malinga is in all awe with this kind of determination from the young prodigy from India.
Yashaswi Jaiswal’s magnificent 214* garners praise from former Sri Lankan legend Lasith Malinga.
Former Sri Lankan pacer Lasith Malinga praised Yashaswi Jaiswal’s work ethic and commitment to the game after he smashed his second consecutive double-century in Test cricket. Jaiswal’s 209 in the first innings of the second Test set up the platform for a victory in Vizag after India lost the first match in Hyderabad. He hit a brilliant 214* in the second essay of the third Test and shepherded India to 430/4 before Rohit Sharma declared the innings.
England failed to give any competition in the chase for 557 only to get bundled out for 122 in the final innings and lose the match by 434 runs.
Lasith Malinga took to his X handle after the conclusion of the match and hailed Jaiswal as a special talent. He wrote:
“During my time at RR, I was truly impressed with Jaiswal’s work ethic and commitment to the game. I have seen such a level of dedication from only a handful of youngsters throughout my career. This kid is special, and this is definitely not the ceiling for him. Well played.”
Yashaswi Jaiswal has been in prolific form with the bat in this series and is at the top of the run charts at the moment. He has scored 545 runs across six innings at an average of 109, including two double-centuries and one half-century and with 2 more tests to go in this series and India now leading to Ranchi with 2-1 lead over England , Yashaswi Jaiswal would love to make the most of his form and etch his name in the history books as an prolific youngster which India is looking as an future superstar.