CHENNAI: YASHASVI Jaiswal is the talk of the town among the cricketing circles at the moment. It is not that he made his international debut or he just broke into the global scene with an inspiring story — he does have one which has been trending — last week. He did something else. The Gen Z star took it upon himself to put on a show — read Test double — against one of the biggest teams in the world. In doing so, he became the third youngest to achieve the feat, rightly taking him to every nook and corner of the cricketing community across the world.
Watching all this feels "unreal" for Jwala Singh, who saw Jaiswal when he was 12, took him under his wings and made him a cricketer. Having migrated to the city of dreams in his pursuit to become a cricketer himself before becoming a coach, Singh knew the youngster was special when he first saw the southpaw. "I think something, what I visualized when I was working with him from a young age, it's becoming real. Before he even played U-19 cricket, I was telling people that he'll play for India. And that's what 's happening. So I think it's something I really visualized and it's happening. So yes, I'm very, very happy and I hope this goes as long as it can," he tells this daily.
The inspiring personal journey apart, what sets out Jaiswal is that he is not just a Gen Z, IPL generation cricketer. Yes, he bats like a dream in the shortest format — 625 runs for Rajasthan Royals at 48.08 average and 163.61 strike rate in IPL 2023 — but Jaiswal is so much more than that. As much as he has achieved fame and success at the biggest T20 league, he is old school in a sense that Jaiswal's Test call-up came because he broke down the door by piling runs in red-ball cricket. From 2022 till his India debut, the left-hander averaged 82.95 in red-ball cricket, smashing 1825 runs in 24 innings.
Which is why, his batting acumen and the way he handled James Anderson whilst taking on England spinners in Visakhapatnam was lauded, especially after a soft dismissal in Hyderabad. "If you see his career, till today, he's always upgraded his performances, his cricket, stroke-playing, mindset. That is his adaptability and skill. He doesn't repeat the old mistakes. In the first Test, when he was playing well, he was trying to dominate throughout and so he played a quick inning. This time (Vizag) he batted like how you should play in a Test match. He took time, played more balls and he made sure that he played long because that was much needed. I think it was very mature."
"Whenever I coach a kid, I always say the domination is not only just going and throwing your bat behind the ball and trying to get quick runs. It is about how to play the bowler. When he's in good form, if you can play against the top bowler of the team and not give a wicket when he is on top, that is a kind of domination. So I think, yeah, he learned those things which I used to teach. He is making it happen. It's not only talent, it's about learning, adaptability, skill and then delivering at the time where it is needed most," Singh added.
Ahead of the second Test, India did not have Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Ravindra Jadeja. The batting unit did not look imposing and they needed someone to step up and it was two youngsters — Jaiswal in the first and Shubman Gill in the second — who did the job. It did not surprise Singh one bit that Jaiswal was thriving in such challenges. "I always tell the players 'if you're playing for some team even though it's a first game or second game, you belong to that place. That's why you are there. If you're facing certain bowlers, it means you are ready to be there. So you need to prove that you are there to do something.' If you see his graph, he's performing everywhere and he likes the challenges even when he used to play at junior level.
"I used to give him challenges. Like in the U-19 World Cup (2020), I told him that he should be the player of the tournament. In one of the U-23 matches, I told him I needed a double hundred from him and he scored it. He has a habit of keeping promises and as I said, he's a quick learner and he understands the situation all the time. Whatever qualities that are required as a player, he has and that's what he's doing all the way; whenever he gets a chance to play," he said.
Indeed. If Jaiswal is going to keep promising and delivering the way he has so far, Indian cricket and world cricket will be richer for it.