Image Credit- BCCI
In seven Test matches, Yashasvi Jaiswal has scored
three hundreds, while the lowest score for which he has been removed from the
game is 171. He claims that this hunger stems from the difficulties he overcame
as a child pursuing his dream of playing cricket for his country.
At the age of 13, Jaiswal moved to Mumbai from his hometown of Uttar Pradesh
with little more than aspirations to pursue what he is doing now. From those
early days, when he occasionally spent the nights at the groundskeeper’s tents
in the maidans, he developed the belief that he must take advantage of every
opportunity.
“In India, when grow up, you work really hard for
each and everything” he told the host broadcaster after helping India take
a 2-1 lead over England, “Even when getting the bus you have to work
really hard to get the bus. You have to work really hard to get to the train
and auto[rickshaw] and everything and I have done that since my childhood and I
know how important every innings is and that’s why I really work hard in my
[practice] sessions and every innings counts for me and for my team that is my
biggest motivation to play for my country and I just make sure that whenever
I’m there I need to give my 100% and then enjoy.”
Jaiswal’s lack of success in the first innings
appeared to have an influence on how he approached his work in the second. He
watched Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja gradually pound England into
submission for the remainder of the innings after being removed for 10 in the
game’s fourth over on a good batting pitch.
“The way Rohit bhai and Jaddu bhai played in the first innings, that
motivated me a lot. Because the passion was there, the talk was there, they
were really determined to play session by session and when I was inside [the
dressing room] I kept thinking that when I go there I have to make it count.
The way they were talking about the game, the way they motivated us, I think
its incredible to see them putting a lot of effort.”
“I always keep thinking and talk to my seniors
like Rohit bhai and Rahul bhai as well about how I can prepare for the game and
how I can switch my mind. I think it is really important to work on my mind and
I really try to work on my mind and then I try to express myself.”