Dear Team India…….

Pitching the High Note- The Jaiswal’s “Yashasvi” Game!

                                                     Photo Credit: BCCI/IPL

It wasn’t just a usual day for Kolkata people who had just witnessed the banger of an inning by Rajasthan Royals opener Yashasvi Jaiswal who wreaked havoc on the KKR bowlers in a run chase of a mere hundred and a half. But it was just another day in the office for Jaiswal who has become used to heaping the runs for any team, any stadium, and every format of the game he plays. The courage, fight, determination, and challenge he possesses are ditto for every day and the next.

Just as the latest entrant to his commendable works when the 23-year-old made a mockery of the below-par target set by the Kolkata Knight Riders, and of the bowling arsenal of the skipper Nitish Rana who could just applaud the destruction that was posed on himself and his team by Mumbai stalwart. He too became the prey of the mastery when he accounted for 26 runs in the very first over which set the tone for the opener to get going.

On his way, he went on to break several records alongside him where the strongest case was becoming the fastest-ever batter to register a fifty in the Indian Premier League in just 13 balls, shattering the previous records of KL Rahul and Pat Cummins, off 14 balls each. It felt like the Yuvraj Singh of the 2007 T20 WC had imbibed inside him.

But the early struggles he soaked in were the reason for the smooth road trip in which he is currently riding. Abandoned his home at the age of 10 with continuously riding Jersey No.10 on his mind, Jaiswal made the first step to his cricketing story and began the construction of his dreams at the Azad Maidan of Bombay, which is the same area from which legend Sachin Tendulkar and Prithvi Shaw started their journey as well.

For someone like a 10-year-old child, surviving in an unknown place is as difficult as stopping that child from visualizing big and never caring about where he was residing, what he was having, and what he was earning. Just one target, of representing India and his state. Having guts like that at such an age is the result he is not afraid of pouncing over the ball and going over the line on the very first delivery of the innings itself.

This is the batting proficiency of YJ that T20 beast like Jos Buttler had to play second fiddle to his younger partner. Sacrificing himself for him would be one of the biggest acclamations for him. And off-course Sri Lankan great and RR head coach Kumar Sangakkara’s words of wisdom too will be unreal bliss which he has been constantly pondered with.

This IPL season became the spectator of Yashasvi show where the youngster has accumulated 575 runs in just 12 games so far and is one short of Faf Du Plessis’ extraordinary run. With that, Jaiswal is not just knocking on the selector's door but banging it hard as it is now impossible to ignore this rare breed when the Indian board will sit on to make future team potentially after World Cup 2023.

From sleeping hungry for several nights, selling panipuri’s to meet end goods to becoming the chief architect of Rajasthan Royals’ splendid performance from the past 2 years, Jaiswal has come a long way, and with the kind of innings that he banged today, the day is not so far when he will face the camera potentially for Indian team photoshoot.

Jaiswal’s Yashasvi days are coming ahead, formula is to keep knocking, keep going, and keep challenging the irresistible throwdowns coming his way.