Practicing on astro-turf wickets helped me, reveals Yashasvi Jaiswal
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Yashasvi Jaiswal, who ended the U19 WC as the highest run-getter, has revealed that practising on astro-turf pitches before the tournament helped him excel on the bouncy tracks in South Africa. Jaiswal further thanked opener Divyaansh Saxena for helping him script the historic ton against Pakistan.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, who took the Under 19 World Cup by storm with his impeccable stroke-making and his hunger to score big, has revealed that practising on astro-turf pitches before the tournament helped him excel on the bouncy tracks in South Africa. The youngster further added he enjoyed playing in a different country on different wickets and said the match situations taught him to deal with pressure. The Mumbai teen was the highest run-getter in the tournament with 400 runs in six innings played with an average above 65, including an unbeaten hundred against Pakistan in the semifinal.
“I was either playing or leaving short-balls. There is bounce on astro-turf wickets like how it is there, so I batted on astro-turf wickets and that worked. It was a very good experience, to play in a different country, where the wickets were also different," said Jaiswal, reported Hindustan Times.
"I enjoyed batting as I was batting for longer duration in the games as well as in the nets. I learnt a lot while playing and also learnt on how to deal with pressure, as pressure was there during most of the games."
The player of the series, Jaiswal, dedicated the award to his coach Jwala Singh and revealed that sessions with his coach on playing the short ball helped him bear fruit in the actual tournament, where he was never dismissed for a score south of 50.
“(His mentor) Jwala Sir had told me that you have to go and bad the player of the series award. We practiced a lot on how to play on bouncy tracks. We practiced on how to play short-balls and that helped me."
Jaiswal also stated that his century against Pakistan was “an important 100” of his life. Both Jaiswal and his opening partner Divyansh Saxena gave India good starts and the 18-year-old also acknowledged the role played by his “Dadar Union” teammate.
“Whenever I was in a hurry or went for a big shot, we spoke to each other. At such times, Diyvansh used to tell me ‘keep playing, a lot of time is left in the game, we will score runs’,” said Jaiswal.
The southpaw, who sold pani puris and lived in a tent in his early playing days in Mumbai, also credited junior chief selector Ashish Kapoor who backed believed that he had the ability to open the innings for India U-19 in the World Cup.
“All the U-19 selectors helped me a lot. It was because of Ashish Kapoor sir that I was able to open. I would like to thank all the selectors and coaches."
