In South Africa, Sunil Gavaskar disclosed that he had’reprimanded’ Yashasvi Jaiswal for wasting a start against the West Indies in his inaugural series from August of last year.
With a total score of over 700 runs in their 4-1 series victory over England, Yashasvi Jaiswal stood out as India’s greatest discovery. After the great Sunil Gavaskar, Jaiswal became the second-only Indian batsman to score 700 runs or more in a single Test series. He had a remarkable start to his Test career last August, scoring a century on his debut. In actuality, the former captain of India won the title twice, once during his debut series in 1971 and once more in 1978–79, both against the West Indies. However, it took another forty-five years for Gavaskar to find company in the team, and that came from a 22-year-old who hasn’t even played ten Test matches.
Nevertheless, upon further reflection, Jaiswal’s incredible accomplishment would have been unattainable if Gavaskar hadn’t intervened during India’s tour of South Africa. Gavaskar, the first batter to reach 10,000 runs in a Test match, disclosed that he had hit Jaiswal in the Johannesburg Test. Gavaskar, who has consistently emphasised the value of converting starts, confided in Jaiswal in the hotel room. It seems to have had apositive effect as Jaiswal has been an unstoppable force in Test cricket ever since.
“Watching Yashasvi score so many runs and control the a
ttack made me feel really good. On the first day of the first Test in South Africa, I had given him a mild
reprimand in the hotel lift for dropping his wicket in Trinidad (the previous Test) after scoring a good fifty or more runs, and I had warned him never to do the bowlers any favours. Thankfully, Gavaskar paid attention to my advice and scored two significant doubles in this series.
After Vinoo Mankad and Virat Kohli, Jaiswal became the third Indian player to score multiple double hundreds in a single Test series with 712 runs at an average of 89, which included two double hundreds. Jaiswal’s incredible performance earned him the title of ICC player of the month. He defeated Kane Williamson, a legendary player who was also dominating the South Africa Tests with three centuries in four innings.
Apart from his 209 in Visakhapatnam and his 214 in Rajkot, Jaiswal also recorded three half-centuries, which were 80, 73, and 57. Gavaskar took a lighthearted stance on it, but he did express how happy he was to see how talented Jaiswal was developing into a young man for India.
“I told him something there, but he forgot it after getting three more half-centuries. Hey, who pays attention to anyone when they’re twentysomething? Nor did I. “Hopefully, he’ll pursue greater opportunities and never lose sight of the fact that Indian cricket made him who he is,” he continued.
