These days, it’s not uncommon for 20-year-olds to be under constant spotlight in Indian cricket. The volume of talent and competition is such, that the search for the next batting superstar never stops. There’s no dearth of candidates for that crown.

Yashasvi Jaiswal is one of them and is fast emerging ahead of the pack. A left-handed batter with strong basics and an appetite to score big, Jaiswal has been the subject of extensive media attention for a few years already. The incredible rags-to-riches journey has, no doubt, been inspiring. Now, his incredible batting numbers are carrying forward the tale.

Currently in the midst of a breakout run-making spree, Jaiswal has taken just seven matches to cross 1,000 first-class runs. Those 13 innings have included two double-centuries and three other hundreds. It’s the context of those matches that makes those figures even more impressive: he hit 35 & 103 in the 2021/22 Ranji Trophy quarter-final against Uttarakhand in June, 100 & 181 in the semi-final against Uttar Pradesh, and 78 & 1 in the final against Madhya Pradesh, later that month. The tally took him to eighth on the season run charts, despite playing just three out of six games.

The run churning hasn’t stopped since. This month, playing for West Zone in the Duleep Trophy – India’s inter-zonal red-ball competition, Jaiswal is set to comfortably end it at the top of the run-tally, having scored 497 runs at 99.40. It includes two mammoth double hundreds: 228 against North East Zone in the quarter-final, and most recently, 265 in the final against South Zone, which firmly put West Zone in the driver’s seat. At 20 years and 269 days, he became the youngest Indian to score a double century in a first-class final. The 200 took just 235 balls, eventually finishing his 323-ball effort with a strike rate of 82.04.

Youngest Indian to score a double century in a first-class final:

20y 269d – Yashasvi Jaiswal (W Zone) v S Zone, today
20y 354d – Ajit Wadekar (Bombay) v Rajasthan, 1962#DuleepTrophy

— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) September 23, 2022

It won’t be long before Jaiswal finds a place in the India A side. His impressive run in 2022 has only strengthened his case as a future all-format batter. It was at the 2020 U19 World Cup – where he ended as the tournament’s top run-getter – that Jaiswal’s brilliance found a wider audience. Just months before that, the Mumbai batter had become the youngest-ever List A double centurion at 17, smashing 203 off 154 balls in the Vijay Hazare Trophy against Jharkhand. Unsurprisingly, an IPL contract followed.

In 26 List A games so far, he’s already hit three centuries and five fifties, while in 33 T20s, collected three fifties, striking at 130.36. It’s the first-class runs, though, that would probably give Jaiswal the most satisfaction. It’s the format through which Mumbai first gave him a chance, back in January 2019. Batting at No.3, he scored 20 & 0*and was immediately left out, not playing a first-class game again until June 2022. And once he sealed his return with a ton, he hasn’t looked back.

It’s just the start. Speaking to Wisden India in December 2019, his childhood coach predicted he’d play for India for at least 10-15 years. Given the way Jaiswal has adapted to each challenge and stepped up his game, reaching the senior India team is not an outlandish target, even if there’s still a long way to go.