'Yashasvi was crying'

Yashasvi Jaiswal ended his first day in Test cricket with a fluent, unbeaten, 40.
Coach Jwala Singh identifies the milestones that took Yashasvi from Mumbai's Azad Maidan to the stadium in Dominica.

It was a dream come true for Yashasvi Jaiswal as he made his Test debut in the first Test against the West Indies in Dominica on Wednesday, July 12, 2023.

At the start of the year, not many would have imagined Yashasvi rising up the ranks so rapidly, as the 21 year old exceeded all expectations courtesy of his superb showing in domestic cricket followed by some spectacular knocks in IPL 2023, which left the selectors with no choice but to pick him for the Indian team.

Yashasvi made a dream start to his Test career, stroking a fluent 40 not out, with six boundaries, as India dominated the opening day of the first Test.

His coach Jwala Singh deserves a lot of credit for Yashasvi's dream run in the last 12 months. He vividly remembers how a young Jaiswal was left heartbroken after not doing well in three matches in his debut IPL season in 2020.

Singh called his ward to Gorakhpur, where he had relocated temporarily with his family due to COVID-19, and the duo set about working on his batting by practicing for hours and hours -- which ultimately proved to be the turning point in his career.

"I believe that whatever work we did after that IPL certainly helped him improve his batting and from that point onwards his career took a turn," Jwala Singh Rediff.com's Harish Kotian in the concluding segment of an exclusive conversation.

• Part 1: 'I will live my dream through Yashasvi'

The reason for his success in the last few years is because we have worked very hard on his game.

I always used to tell him that a lot of players play Under-19 cricket for India, but very few make it to the Indian team.

Under-19 cricket is like you have finished your graduation, but the next big step is to make your career and everything will depend on how you perform in the present and the past won't matter.

There was one point when he was very low. That was when he came back from his first IPL season (in 2020) in the UAE. I was in Gorakhpur and that time we had a COVID-19 surge.

He called me and started crying. 'I have fared very poorly in the IPL'. He had made only 40-odd runs in the three matches he played for Rajasthan Royals.

I called him to Gorakhpur and worked very hard on his batting. I made him bat for hours against throwdowns from a plastic ball from half pitch. Then I used to tell him to hit sixes over 70-80 metre boundaries and other things.

I believe that whatever work we did after that IPL certainly helped him improve his batting and from that point onwards his career took a turn. I would say those days of relentless practice for hours and hours were responsible for Yashasvi to graduate from a Under-19 to a senior cricketer.

He used to tell me, 'this way I am playing away from my body, I will struggle in red ball cricket'. I clearly told him, 'that is the future. If you don't play well in white ball cricket, then you will struggle to make it to the top.'

That phase from 2020 to 2021 proved to be a solid foundation for Yashasvi's career. It is because of the hard work during that period that he has become the player that he is today.

I also worked a lot on his mental side. I constantly reminded him that 'Cricket is unpredictable, you have to be on your toes always, you have to stay grounded always.' These things helped him grow as a cricketer.

You could say that period was the turning point of his career. He scored a 52-ball century in a practice match for the Vijay Hazare Trophy that season, and after that in his second season of the IPL (in 2021), he hit a 19-ball fifty against CSK. He kept growing from there.

I remember telling him during this year's IPL after the first few games that your performances so far have been quite average. After that he hit a century in a IPL match and I was very happy.

The reason why I like him so much is that because whenever I have given him a challenge he has always completed it.

Off the field his ethics are very good, he is very dedicated and focussed.

I have still not thought what to tell him or what advice to give; I just got the news about him playing his first Test.

It is yet to sink in for me that Yashasvi will be playing for India. I am very confident that he will do well.

I remember when he got selected for the West Indies Tests, he came to me in the morning and spoke to me. My only advice for him was that he should play normally when he gets the chance.

• India in West Indies 2023