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Jaiswal takes life, cricket lessons from struggle growing up
Young Mumbai batter is on a roll with back-to-back centuries in the knockout phase of the Ranji Trophy.
Yashasvi Jaiswal has a very clear thought process for a 20-year-old. He knows what needs to be done to succeed and how. He attributes that clarity of thought to his initial days of hardship that were spent sleeping in a tent and selling pani puri outside Azad Maidan as he took baby steps towards building his cricket career. “I will never forget those days of struggle. That made me tough and mentally strong,” says Jaiswal.
His fortitude helped him dominate junior cricket and he is starting to replicate that success at the senior level. His two centuries on the trot while opening for Mumbai in the ongoing Ranji Trophy knockouts has further enhanced his reputation.
The two centuries came in contrasting fashion as well. While the one against Uttarakhand in the second innings of the quarter-final was an attacking one, the second one in the ongoing semi-final against Uttar Pradesh was a tutorial on defensive display for any youngster watching. On Thursday, he adapted a sedate approach in the second innings as well (he took 54 balls to get off the mark). With Mumbai taking a 213-run lead after dismissing UP for 180, the idea was to bat them out of the contest.
Jaiswal wasn’t in the Mumbai 11 during the group stages of the Ranji Trophy. But that didn’t discourage him. He was patiently waiting for his turn. “I can’t control everything. I was preparing myself…that whenever I will get a chance, I will score runs. I believe in myself, I trust myself. I know only one person can help me and it’s me. All the time I need to focus on the process, be disciplined, eat good food, do fitness…,” says Jaiswal.
Jaiswal first gained national prominence during the Vijay Harare Trophy in 2019. He scored 203 against Jharkhand at the age of 17 years and 192 days to become the youngest double centurion in List A cricket. He finished the tournament with 564 runs from six matches. That was followed by a stellar performance for India in the 2020 Under-19 World Cup where he finished as tournament's top scorer with 400 runs in six matches at an average of 133.33 with four fifties and one hundred. In between he was picked up by the Rajasthan Royals for ₹2.4 crore at the 2020 IPL auction. All this while, he continued his run scoring spree for Mumbai—his 185 against Pondicherry in the U-23 CK Nayudu Trophy quarter-final stood out.
But then his struggle started. He aggravated a shoulder injury playing for Mumbai, an injury he had suffered during the U-19 World Cup final against Bangladesh. Soon after a national lockdown due to Covid-19 was announced and his recovery was hampered. He entered the 2020 IPL rusty and it showed during the three matches he played. He struggled to pull off the big shots. With cricket in Mumbai halted due to the pandemic, he shifted base to Gorakhpur in UP for training. During his month long stay there, he practised at the Railway ground and faced around 450 balls during his three-hour long daily sessions with focus on hitting sixes and working on his cuts and the pulls. “If there is a weakness, I need to iron them out. The sessions really helped,” Jaiswal says of those sessions.
The result was instant—he scored a 49-ball 103 in Mumbai’s selection matches for the 2021 Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament. He didn’t have a great outing in the tournament but showed glimpses of his hitting prowess. He had a much better showing in the 2021 IPL scoring 248 runs in 10 matches and his performance convinced the Royals’ management to retain him for 2022.
The start was scratchy this season and as a result he was benched for few matches before he was given another chance. This time, he grabbed it and finished the tournament with 258 runs in 10 matches including two fifties.
“The time I spent on the bench, I worked hard in the nets, outside the nets. I know myself better than anyone. That’s the only thing I need. I just try to work, go out and express myself in the middle. I just kept thinking that I need to keep focus. Be ready when the opportunity comes. The work I put in with Zubin Bharucha (RR Director of Cricket) really helped me a lot,” says Jaiswal.
