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.
Jaiswal in his hurricane knock of 214* at Rajkot studded 12 sixes a world record and equaled the feat of Former Pakistani Legend Wasim Akram who previously had hit 12 sixes vs Zimbabwe during his career best innings of 257* in October 1996. Seeing this heroics Wasim Akram garnered huge praises on the Indian batting star.
Yashaswi Jaiswal’s mammoth record of 12 sixes in his magnificent innings of 214* garners special praise from Pakistani Legend Wasim Akram.
Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has reacted to Yashaswi Jaiswal equalling his record for most sixes in a Test innings against England at the Niranjan Shah Stadium in Rajkot.
The former left-arm seamer revealed that critics have downplayed his marathon 257, keeping in mind that it was against Zimbabwe but highlighted it as a tough ask.
It was during his highest score of 257* against Zimbabwe in October 1996 in Sheikhupura that Akram smashed a record 12 sixes. He arrived at the crease when Saleem Malik was out for 52 to Paul Strang, but the captain’s 363-ball knock lifted Pakistan to 553. The game eventually resulted in a draw.
Speaking to A Sports, the 104-Test veteran said:
“My record (most sixes in an innings) wasn’t broken. It’s been equaled by Yashaswi Jaiswal. People talk a lot that it was Zimbabwe, but it wasn’t that easy. I remember we were around 170/6 when I went to bat.”
Jaiswal, meanwhile, broke a host of records during his 214* in India’s second innings against England in Rajkot. The left-hander equaled the record for most sixes off Joe Root and joined an elite group of seven batters to convert his first three centuries to 150+ scores.
Yashaswi Jaiswal breaks into top 20 of Test batting rankings
According to the updated ICC rankings, the 22-year-old has broken into the top 20 in Test cricket, rising 14 spots to 15th.
The destructive opener has impressed in the series, hammering 80 in the first innings of the opening Test in Hyderabad. Although he failed in the second innings in Hyderabad, the left-hander battered 209 in the opening dig in Vishakhapatnam to propel the hosts to 396.
The Uttar Pradesh-born player got out cheaply in the first innings in Rajkot but hammered 214 to take his run tally to 545 in the series. Despite losing the first Test, Rohit Sharma’s men have done remarkably well to lead the series 2-1. The fourth Test starts on Friday in Ranchi and India will hope that Yashaswi Jaiswal will carry his thunderous forms going into final 2 tests setting new records for India and also giving a series win to India over England.