Yashasvi’s dream double: Away 100 on debut, a home in Mumbai

THE DAY Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a hundred on debut against the West Indies at Windsor Park in Dominica on Thursday, his family, 13,7000 kilometres away in Thane, was busy shifting to their new five-bedroom flat, settling the movers and packers, setting up the house and buying household stuff.
His father, meanwhile, was on Kanwar Yatra, travelling on foot from Uttar Pradesh to Uttarakhand, following his son’s progress on phone and praying for his success.
It was thus a new beginning for the 21-year-old, who slept in tents, sold panipuris, climbed trees to watch IPL games, and was once even refused entry into Azad Maidan nets.
His new flat in Thane
Even when he was preparing for his Test debut in Dominica, where he scored 171 as India continued to dominate the Test on Day 3, his mind was in Mumbai. Yashasvi didn’t want to return to the rented two-bedroom in Santa Cruz, where the family has been staying for the last two years.
Speaking to The Indian Express, brother Tejsvi said: “He kept telling us, ‘please shift soon, I don’t want to stay in this house’. Even during the Test match, he would ask about our shifting plans. All his life, he had just one wish, to have his own house. You know how he has come up, he understands the importance of a roof over his head, especially in Mumbai.”
Yashasvi’s rise has been meteoric – from making his first-class debut in 2019, to getting his first IPL contract three years later and scoring the fastest IPL 50 in 2023, to regering a Test hundred on debut.
The journey started when he was just 12, and shifted to Mumbai from Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh with no patrons or godfathers. Later, he would spend countless hours batting in the nets at his coach Jwala Singh’s academy, staying away from teenage joys so that he could work extra hard to realise his dream.
His father during the Kanwar Yatra. Express
It was not just desire that fuelled him, but unflinching devotion to his craft and a supreme determination to make the best of his breaks. Little wonder then that he averages 80.61 in first-class cricket.
“I’m not easy on myself. I am imaandar (honest) to myself, and if any error happens, then I tell myself I committed this make. If any good thing happens, then I say I did well but ab aage dekh (now, look ahead). I never get carried away,” he had told The Indian Express earlier, trying to explain his mindset.
Former India opener Wasim Jaffer, who has worked with Yashasvi in his early days, said the youngster’s hunger for runs sets him apart from others of his age. He recalled how, during the 2021-22 Ranji Trophy semi-finals against Uttar Pradesh, Yashasvi scored 100 in the first innings and 181 in the second innings. “In the second innings, Yashasvi faced the first 50-odd balls and didn’t score any runs and then he went on to score 181. For a player, who scored a century in the first innings and took 50 balls to score one run, and then scores hundred again, that is maturity,” he said.
Former India opener-turned-coach Lalchand Rajput said Yashasvi was possibly the new torchbearer for Mumbai cricket. “He is carrying Mumbai’s batting legacy now. Yashasvi has shown that he can adapt quickly. (Sachin) Tendulkar and (Sunil) Gavaskar had to adapt in two formats but the coming generation will have to adapt in three formats, which is not easy,” he said.
For his family, the Test hundred was a deserving reward for his sweat and toil. “It was a proud moment for us, he has been working hard for this for so long. My father has gone for Kanwar Yatra, and had prayed for Yashasvi. My brother is the quiet one in the family, he is too focussed on his game,” said Tejsvi.
And Yashasvi has once again allowed his bat to do all the talking.