Virat's guidance and encouragement has helped Jayant feels coach

Team India won the 4th Test as Virat Kohli scored a magnificent double century and Ravichandran Ashwin picked a 12-wicket match haul. But they are already the stars, everyone expects them to do well and lead the team to victory. If there was one man who walked back from this Test with enhanced reputation and sky-high confidence it has to be off-spinner Jayant Yadav.

He scored a brilliant century batting at No.8 and participated in a crucial partnership with Virat to take the Team to a position where they won the game by an innings. Jayant’s childhood coach RP Sharma is elated with his ward’s performance and was full of praises for Test skipper Virat who has shown the youngster way to settle himself into the Test fold.

“Kohli is a complete team man. He has constantly guided Jayant and it is his words of encouragement that has given the youngster confidence. The two have grown up playing together in the Delhi circuit and even though Jayant moved to Haryana and Kohli went on to represent India at the top level, Kohli was very welcoming when Jayant was brought into the national set-up. He made Jayant feel at home, even though the latter is playing his first international series,” he was quoted by CricketNext as saying.

The Haryana off-spinner had admitted that with skipper at the other end helping him in tackling different bowlers and deliveries it helped his confidence and translated into the knock he eventually managed. Sharma also credited Kohli and said, “If you see his batting on Sunday, credit must be given to Kohli for guiding him from the word go. It wasn’t Jayant alone who was playing that knock. Kohli was advising him after almost every over and the confidence on Jayant’s face was a clear result of the captain backing him and believing in his abilities,”

So far, Jayant has scored 221 runs in four innings at an average of 73.66. His tally includes a fifty and a century. More than the runs, it is the confidence that he has shown coming lower down the order that has impressed one and all.

He is in a team where another off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin is not only at the top of his game but is the best in the world and with Ravindra Jadeja in the team he is the third spin option and on most occasions will have limited opportunities to make an impact but has to make sure he capitalizes on whatever comes his way.

“Jayant is a very disciplined boy. He has worked really hard to reach where he has, but the real fight begins now. To be honest, the way R Ashwin is bowling at the moment, Jayant can’t play in this team as a pure off-spinner. So, he needs to keep working on his batting and at the same time fine tune his bowling skills. He can’t ignore any aspect of his game. Also, Jayant is a fine fielder and that is something that would have definitely impressed Kohli who loves athleticism on the field,” his coach said.

He is proud of the effort of his student and at the same time also accepted that he and Jayant’s father are pleasantly surprised at how well their boy has adapted to the demands of Test cricket so early in his career. “I was having a word with Jayant’s father just a while back and we both agreed that this is god’s gift for the hardwork that the youngster has put in over the years. We never expected him to start with such a bang. But he has to remember that this is just the beginning,” he signed off.