Former India fielding coach R Sridhar has shared his views on Shubman Gill and Yashaswi Jaiswal‘s future in international cricket. With Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retiring from T20Is, the young openers Shubman Gill and Yashaswi Jaiswal replaced them at the top of the order during the recently concluded three-match series against Sri Lanka.
Shubman Gill is also opening the innings alongside Rohit Sharma in ODIs and is currently an indispensable part of the ODI setup. On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal has been the preferred opener in the Test format. With both youngsters doing well in international cricket so far, many believe that they have the potential to lead India’s charge with the bat in the years to come.
Yashasvi Jaiswal the new prodigy in Indian cricket team.
Yashasvi 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.
Yashasvi 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,” Yashasvi 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 Yashasvi 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.
Yashasvi 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. However Yashasvi Jaiswal didnt stop there and continued scoring runs and was a part of triumphant T20I World Cup campaign in 2024.
And while only time will reveal how things unfold in the future, R Sridhar believes both the players Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal have a bright future ahead of them
R Sridhar opens up on young sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal’s competitive T20I future
Former Indian fielding coach R Sridhar believes Yashasvi Jaiswal hasn’t quite yet sealed his spot at the top of the order in the shortest format. Sridhar believes the likes of Abhishek Sharma and Sai Sudarshan are in with a shout when it comes to Jaiswal’s competitors.
India’s opening combination at the T20 World Cup was Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. But with both veteran batters having retired from the T20I format, the likes of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhishek and Shubman Gill have featured in the T20Is against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.
Speaking to Hindustan Times, here’s what R Sridhar had to say about Yashasvi Jaiswal:
“I think he has got a lot of competition. He has Sai Sudarshan breathing down his neck. He has got Abhishek Sharma on his neck. But Yashasvi has done well in Test matches, against England, we saw him score a hundred and then followed it up with a double hundred. He has got the appetite for the big innings. He can play T20 cricket as he has shown in the IPL and the recent Zimbabwe series.”
While R Sridhar named Abhishek Sharma and Sai Sudarshan as Jaiswal’s competitors, he also highlighted current form as one of the major factors in deciding the opening spot. As far as Shubman Gill is concerned, R Sridhar has no doubt that the right-hander is a three-format player. He feels Gill will become the next ODI and Test captain once Rohit Sharma hangs up his boots.
On this, he stated:
“Shubman Gill for me is an all-format player and I think he would be the apprentice to captain Rohit Sharma in Test matches and ODIs. I am sure India will see him as the captain post 2027 World Cup in all formats.”
Gill had also recently captained the Indian team in the five-match T20I series against Zimbabwe which the visitors won 4-1.