Yashasvi Jaiswal became the latest teenager to strike an IPL windfall last week. Aadya Sharma has the story of the newest sensation in Indian cricket, a boy who has come up the hard way.
Yashasvi Jaiswal will turn 18 this month. In a few weeks, he will be in Bloemfontein, padding up for India’s opening game of the Under 19 World Cup 2020.
That’s over 5,000 miles west of Bhadohi, a small, rural district in Uttar Pradesh, north of India, a place best known for its hand-woven carpet industry. It’s where Jaiswal was born, and the place he left behind as an 11-year-old for a career playing cricket.
It’s a world away from the streets of Mumbai, where he landed in 2013, one of millions, starry eyed in the city of dreams. Mumbai can chew up your dreams and spit you out, but it can also reward the few that persevere. Jaiswal was one of the lucky ones: he climbed onto Mumbai’s conveyor belt of fresh, young batsmen, all racking up mountains of runs, and grew into a pugnacious left-hand bat.
Jaiswal’s life changed overnight after the IPL auction, but Jwala hopes his ward can stay grounded. “These days, U19 cricketers get IPL contracts, and in a flash, they have money,” he says. “All of a sudden, they’ll have big cricketers like Ricky Ponting and Kieron Pollard around, and will start imitating them, without realising they are yet to achieve things in their lives.
“Even if you don’t change, people start changing you. You start appearing on television, fans start taking selfies. You don’t have the maturity to understand things, and you get carried away. That’s when you need a mentor, who tells you all this is temporary.”
It is an area where Jwala himself can prove a big help for Jaiswal. “I always give him the larger goal,” Jwala says. “Playing U19 and first-class … it is not difficult with his talent. At his level, I expect him to play for India for 10-15 years.
“I’ve told him to never relax, and earn what he deserves. Two years ago, he bought a helmet worth INR 15,000. I told him that was not his capacity, and promised I’d gift him the same helmet if he played for India Under 19. That’s exactly what happened.”
Jaiswal’s idols are Sachin Tendulkar and Wasim Jaffer, two colossal figures of Mumbai cricket. He wants to play with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, against Australia and Pakistan. Those are all dreams for now. His focus is on the U19 World Cup, and if all goes to plan, Bhadohi will be put on the cricket map.
