In the second Test of India’s tour of the West Indies last year,
Yashasvi Jaiswal
threw his wicket away having done all the hard work to score a half-century in India’s first innings. On the subsequent tour of South Africa, Jaiswal came across
Sunil Gavaskar
in the hotel elevator, and the batting legend “mildly reprimanded” the youngster for his dismissal.
Gavaskar’s words seemed to have done wonders to Jaiswal’s approach as he scored a mammoth 712 runs in the recently concluded five-Test home series against England — the highest aggregate by an Indian batsman against England in a Test series.
“It felt very nice to see Yashasvi getting all those runs (against England) and the manner in which he dominated the attack,” Gavaskar said in an interview with the Hindustan Times.
“I had mildly reprimanded him in the hotel elevator on Day 1 of the first Test in South Africa for throwing away his wicket in Trinidad (during West Indies tour) after a good 50 plus score and told him never to do the bowlers any favour. Thankfully, he listened to me and got two big doubles in this series,” Gavaskar said.
Jaiswal’s tally of runs against England included two double centuries. He also scored three half-centuries.
“He got three other half-centuries and forgot what I had told him there (in the hotel elevator),” Gavaskar said on a lighter note. “But hey, who listens to anyone when one is in his 20s! I didn’t either. Hopefully, he will go on to bigger things and never forgets that he is what he is because of Indian cricket.”
The ICC has named Jaiswal as the ‘Player of the Month’ for February.
