The Indian Premier League (IPL) has always been a perfect platform for young cricketers to get a shot at the limelight. From Rishabh Pant to Ishan Kishan, there have been quite a few names who have shown class in front of the most formidable bowling line-ups and justified the astronomical price tags to get them on board.
Come 19 December, the young Yashasvi Jaiswal too might join the bandwagon given he fits the criterion of being an uncapped player.
While those who frequent the maidans of Mumbai were well acquainted with his class, Jaiswal upped the gear earlier in October this year when he slammed a 154-ball 203 in a Vijay Hazare match to become the youngest cricketer to smash a double hundred in the tournament’s history.
In five matches, he smashed 25 sixes— second only to Kerala’s Vishnu Vinod (29) who played three matches more than him.
In 13 List-A matches so far, Jaiswal has scored 779 runs at an average of 70.81 with an impressive strike rate of 91.53. He has been in good nick of late having smashed a century against the U-19 Afghanistan side in November.
It hasn’t been an easy journey for Jaiswal though.
His father is the owner of a small hardware shop and hence fulfilling his dream of becoming a cricketer was a challenging task for him and his family. Having initially started playing in Uttar Pradesh, Jaiswal moved to Mumbai to stay with his uncle before shifting to a tent at Azad Maidan where the groundsmen lived.
He cooked his own food, saved money to buy cricket gear but despite all his efforts the expenses kept mounting. As a result, he started selling pani-puris in the evenings.
Although most of his customers were his teammates, the extra labour did help him earn a few extra bucks.
It was only when coach Jwala Singh spotted him did his problems take a back seat.
Jaiswal shifted from the tents to his residence and it didn’t take long before he started representing Mumbai in domestic cricket. Given his exploits with the bat in the circuit, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Jaiswal indeed managed to ignite a bidding war.
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