Hogging the limelight with his phenomenal run in Tests and now in T20I cricket, talented Indian youngster Yashasvi Jaiswal says this is just the start and he needs to makes sure he's "ready for tomorrow". Fresh from his exploits in IPL 2023, the 21-year-old left-hander made a smooth transition to Test cricket with a century on India debut and then followed it up with a half-century. Jaiswal then grabbed his opportunity in T20I cricket with an unbeaten 84 off 51 balls, his first fifty in second appearance in the shortest format.
"It's just the start," Jaiswal told reporters after India's nine-wicket hammering of the West Indies here on Saturday. It kept the series alive at 2-2 to take it to the decider slated later on Sunday.
"I want to keep doing and building on it. I'm happy today but I want to make sure that I'm ready for tomorrow also.
"It (half-century) was really special, representing India is always a proud moment. Of course, there is a lot of thought and hard work behind it. I'm so blessed and grateful that I was able to express myself today and it went off well." After back-to-back losses in the five-match T20I series, India dropped Ishan Kishan at the top, handing debut to Jaiswal to go alongside Shubman Gill.
But the new opening pair failed in its first match (third of the series), managing just six runs together, even as India won by seven wickets to keep the series alive.
Start of a new era?
Chasing 179 on Saturday, Jaiswal and Gill were in cruise mode and equalled India's record-highest T20I opening partnership of 165, which was in the name of Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul.
The obvious question was whether it's the start of a new era? "What they (Rohit and Rahul) have done is amazing. They are legends of the game. I just think that we just need to go and try doing what we can do. We have a long way to go," was Jaiswal's humble response.
He said he's making the most of the opportunity of sharing the Indian dressing room with seniors like coach Rahul Dravid, captain Rohit, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav.
"We've an amazing bunch of seniors like Rohit bhaiya, Virat bhaiya, Hardik bhaiya, Surya bhaiya and Rahul sir. The way they talk, I make sure to listen to their experiences and how they carried themselves...
"I just try to gather as much information possible from their talks and put that in my game. I believe in my process a lot... if it would be right, the result will follow," he said.
He further said that there's a lot of hard work and mental makeup behind his success at the highest level.
"Of course, transition is all important. It's about how I am doing my practice, and how I am shifting my mind, it's all about mindset.
"I trust myself. I always believe that if I give everything it can happen. I just keep telling myself, to go out there and express myself. I just try to keep it really simple." Asked what he does to motivate himself, Jaiswal said: "I just keep telling myself, I trust, I believe and I will do that. I need to eat well, sleep well.
"I really work hard on my fitness, diet, sleep and recovery. If my process is right, the results will come." And his message to the youngsters is simple: "Believe and trust yourself." "You need to work hard and stick to the process, keep fighting, always there will be hope and a chance. Keep telling yourself 'I can do this, I will do this'.
"It's about trusting your emotions, that makes a person really strong and keep doing it. Working hard is important because when pressure comes that will help you," he signed off. PTI TAP AM TAP AM AM
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