West Indies vs India: Yashasvi set to build on the promise

After stellar show in domestic cricket across formats, the 21-year-old left-hander seems ready for international cricket.

Ajinkya Rahane with the 21-year-old left-hander, Yashasvi Jaiswal.

CHENNAI: When Yashasvi Jaiswal made his first-class debut for Mumbai in January 2019, he had not even played the U19 World Cup. After an ordinary outing, it took him three years to play in the Ranji Trophy again — one season was cancelled due to Covid. However, since he came back in early 2022, the youngster hasn't looked back and grown from strength to strength. So much so that he earned his Test call-up in June and could well be making his India debut in the West Indies series that begins on July 12.

In the last 18 months, he has amassed 1815 runs in 24 first-class innings, averaging 82.5. Had an incredible season with the Rajasthan Royals in the 2023 Indian Premier League — 625 runs at 163.61 strike rate. One look at the numbers, it feels like he has upped his game multi-folds in the last couple years. However, Jwala Singh, his childhood coach, believes that it is just the reward for the process he has followed for a few years now. "In my opinion, whatever performance he has put up is because of the work he did two years back. Now, he is able to execute it," Singh told The New Indian Express.

"When you start something new, you don't get to see the results immediately. When you try a few things for two-three years, like after the U19 World Cup, he was signed by RR in the IPL but could not perform well. He was not happy. We practiced a lot since on cement wickets, hitting long sixes, to graduate him to the next level. We did a lot of experiments and later on, the process gave the results. Sometimes, players take a year or two to graduate from U19 to senior level. I feel the things he has been doing for a while are showing results now."

Among the up-and-coming star batters in Indian cricket, Jaiswal is among the few who have stolen the show across formats. Whether it is building an innings in red-ball cricket or playing cameos in T20s, the 21-year-old has done it all in the last year and half. That he has three first-class double centuries is proof of it. The method behind Jaiswal's success comes from a long-proven process which Singh had observed from the likes of former India cricketers Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer years ago. 

"I worked with Wasim Jaffer. We used to practice together a lot when he was trying to make his India comeback in 2005. Sometimes I got to see Sachin practice as well. I have seen how they prepare for Test matches, even bowled to them in nets. When I coached Yashasvi, I used it all. The process I have seen, I felt if I prepared him in a similar way, he could go a long way. And he responded. That is why you can see that he looks a very balanced cricketer in all formats."

"In fact, I worked more on his will than skills. Because if you have skill and no will, you can't do much. When he came to me in 2013, he was a disturbed kid. I used to give him mental challenges to make him tough. Used to tell stories of success and failure. What makes you successful and what makes you fail and that it is your choice where you want to go. These things help mentally."

While it is not clear at this point whether he will make his debut in the first Test and if he does whether he will open the batting or walk in at No. 3, Singh believes that Jaiswal will be ready for whatever challenge that comes his way. If anything, he has more challenges off the field than on it. 

"The way he has played so far in all these years, he is used to handling these kinds of pressure. He is sorted and the names he has played with so far, the games in IPL, he has seen it all. So, I don't think there is any extra pressure. But outside cricket, fame and new people come into life, those things he has to keep in mind, he is ready to play and whenever he gets a chance he will make most of it," Singh signed off.