Yashasvi Jaiswal was among the seven senior team players who were sent early to England in preparations for the five-match Test series. Having never batted in England before, it was a great call by the BCCI selectors to include the youngster, who impressed in the recent Australia tour, in the India A series against the England Lions. But it turned out to be an unfavourable outing for the left-handed opener.
In four innings against the Lions, Jaiswal scored 24, 64, 17 and 5, thus capping off a poor campaign in the tour games. What added to his woes was that India A captain Abhimanyu Easwaran, who is also part of the senior squad, albeit as a backup opener, scored successive fifties in the two matches, while fellow regular opener KL Rahul scored a century and a fifty in the only India A match he played.
According to a report in RevSportz, on Wednesday, India head coach Gautam Gambhir was seen having animated chats with Jaiswal during the team's training session in Kent, where they will play an intra-squad game against India A, starting Friday.
ALSO READ: Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma react to 'sad, disturbing' Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad: 'Really shocked to hear...'
Not just one, but twice was Gambhir seen having lengthy discussions with Jaiswal, who also spent considerable time at the nets facing every variety of delivery. While the report did not confirm the exact discussions, it hinted that the chat was largely around his batting and where he could improve and thus adjust to the conditions in England.
{{/usCountry}}Not just one, but twice was Gambhir seen having lengthy discussions with Jaiswal, who also spent considerable time at the nets facing every variety of delivery. While the report did not confirm the exact discussions, it hinted that the chat was largely around his batting and where he could improve and thus adjust to the conditions in England.
{{/usCountry}}Jaiswal has made a stellar start to his Test career thus far, scoring 1798 runs in 19 matches, since his debut in 2023. It comprised four centuries and 10 fifties with an average of 52.88. His best performance thus far came against England at home, where he smashed 712 runs in nine innings, with two tons and three half-centuries.
Jaiswal will be the player to watch in the intra-squad match, which will be India's only practice game before the England series.
Intra-squad match behind closed doors
According to a report in the PTI, Gambhir has pushed for a "closed door" intra-squad match "to prevent the opposition from getting any ideas on the tactical front, emulating a long-established practice among European football clubs."
The Indian team management had done the same during the tour of Australia last November, with BCCI having instructed the WACA officials in Perth to bat fans and media from entering the venue during the practice game.