All Yashasvi Jaiswal ever wanted to do was play cricket

Yashasvi Jaiswal had an incredible campaign in the recently concluded U19 Asia Cup in Bangladesh. India won the final against Sri Lanka by a mammoth 144 runs and Jaiswal contributed with a 113-ball 85, which helped his team set a daunting target of 305. He was consistent throughout the event and went on to notch 318 runs at an incredible average of 79.50.

His top score of 104 came against Nepal in Savar. Jaiswal has been hogging the limelight ever since he broke into the U19 team, however, his journey hasn’t been a smooth ride by any means. His mother Kanchan Jaiswal talked about his passion to play the game.

“All he ever wanted to do was play cricket, you couldn’t take the bat out of his hand even if you wanted. When he was ten, he shifted to Mumbai to live with his uncle,” she was quoted as saying in News18.

I Stay at the ground then everything will be easy

While in Mumbai, he had to travel from Dadar to Azaad Maiden on a daily basis and the journey used to take a toll on his body owing to which he strained to concentrate on cricket. That’s when he shifted to a dairy at Kalbadevi where he did a menial job in return for accommodation.

Nevertheless, he couldn’t concentrate on his work and saw his luggage being thrown out one day. Thereafter, he stayed in a tent in Azaad Maidan, which was given to him by Imran from the Muslim United Club. He was also requested by his parents to return, but he didn’t.

“We told him to come back but he said that he will return to the village only when he comes a player, he was happy to stay in the tent. Main maidaan mein hi rahuga toh sab kuch aasan hoga, subah uthte hi mere saamne cricket hota hai, (If I Stay at the ground then everything will be easy, as soon as I wake up I see cricket in front of me) he used to tell me.”

It was local coach Jwala Singh, who spotted him in the nets following which his career started taking shape. The left-hander also talked about quitting the sport to the coach. Jaiswal stayed with his coach and went on to play the Haris Shield in which he scored 319 runs and picked up 13 wickets for 99 runs. He broke into the Mumbai U16 team before being selected for India U19.

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