Why Australian eyes should be on Yashasvi Jaiswal and the foothills of the Himalayas
I once bowled to Yashasvi Jaiswal. He hit me for the biggest six of my life. We were at the Police Gymkhana ground, one of the many maidaans (ovals) alongside Marine Drive in Mumbai. It not only cleared the ground but also the railway track that runs parallel to it. If I’d bowled from the other end, the ball would have ended up in the Arabian Sea.
It was probably among the least significant sixes Jaiswal has hit in his life. I, on the other hand, obviously wear it as a badge of honour. Look, there must have been a lot of pace on the ball, from my off-the-wrong-foot left-arm fast mediums, for him to send the ball soaring that far with his trademark whip off the pads.
It was in a media game, where I was playing for the Mumbai sports journalists’ outfit and he was playing for the local club team. For the record, he was 14 and I was 30.
There were a couple of other boundaries in that over. At the end of it, I pulled him aside and requested him to take it a little easy on someone who has always only written good things about him.
It worked. The kid did show me some mercy. Unlike what he’s done against the poor England bowlers. He’s not even spared Jimmy Anderson. If anything, he’s made the veteran pay the most, even hitting him for three consecutive sixes during his second double century of the series.
To be honest, Jaiswal was already a big deal by the time he launched me into orbit. Like a lot of young Mumbai batters before and after him, he’d started making headlines long before then. There’s of course his well-publicised incredible backstory. But he’d also started turning heads for being an audacious strokemaker. A reputation he’s embraced and enhanced like few batters have managed to in the history of Test cricket. And so quickly, too.
The focus for the Australian team during the rest of the week will obviously be on the second Test in Christchurch as they try to win the series outright and continue their stranglehold on the Black Caps in Test cricket as the extended Test summer comes to a close at the Hagley Oval. But back in Australia there’ll be a keen eye kept also on the goings on at the picturesque stadium in Dharamsala in the foothills of the Himalayas. Not just because that venue always provides the most stunning images on television.
After having spent the entire winter on the road for two of the highest-profile away Test series in India and England last year, the Aussie Test players have the rest of 2024 off before they reconvene in late November. And it is India with whom Pat Cummins and his team will have to contend when they return to these shores looking for a third-straight series win.
As a reminder, after over 70 years of trying, India breached the fortress Down Under in 2018-19. They then breached the Gabbatoir two years later with an even more dramatic series win. And if the rivalry between the two teams hadn’t already reached a point worthy of it being likened to the Ashes before then, India’s two triumphs in Australia have only sent it soaring further.
Some of the Australian players have already spoken about being engrossed in India’s championing of the Bazballing Englishmen for a variety of reasons. A few members of the coaching staff have already mentioned about how much they’re looking forward to seeing Jaiswal on Australian pitches and how they will plan to get the better of the youngster.
So, Australia, you need to brace yourself for Yashasvi Jaiswal – the boy who came from nothing to potentially taking over the world with bat in hand, averaging nearly 70 in Test cricket.
Brace yourself for Sarfaraz Khan. A few years older than Jaiswal but a kid from Mumbai who’s followed a very similar path from battling extreme difficulties growing up to now averaging over 70 in first-class cricket.
Brace yourself, also, for a few others who you have been introduced to before but haven’t seen first-hand for a while. For, the Jasprit Bumrah you saw turn the series around at the MCG in 2018, and very briefly two years later, has gone on to become only more menacing a prospect.
For, the Mohammad Siraj who made such an impressive start to his career, and led the attack at the Gabba, has only grown more significantly, both in terms of confidence and skills.
And the Shubman Gill who won you over with his stylish play in his maiden outing, has also found his feet at Test level and is batting at a level he seemed pre-destined to get to.
There will be a few more familiar names and match-ups to look forward to, of course. Rohit Sharma should still be captain and trying to win his first big series away from home. Ravindra Jadeja will still be looking to wield his bat around like a sword, having now become the foremost all-rounder in the world. And R Ashwin, who on Thursday against England plays his 100th Test, will be keen for his final bout against his old rival, Steve Smith.
Excited yet? There’ll also be added interest in terms of the World Test Championship table, with the two finalists from the last cycle, potentially placed to be in a position for an encore come next June.
It’ll also be the first five-Test series between the two teams since the 1991-92 India tour of Australia, from where Sachin Tendulkar emerged as a world-beater.
You wonder if we’ll be saying the same about Jaiswal in a year’s time. Yes, he’s already captured the imagination of the cricket world with his exploits at home. But if he does win Australia over the same way, and you know Australians need you to win them over in the flesh, there will be no stopping Jaiswal. What you will see from him, regardless, are some massive sixes. Trust me, I know how it feels first hand.
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