In India’s pre-game net sessions, there’s always an early bird. Yashasvi Jaiswal is invariably the first player to hit the nets, wearing his training kit and starting his session with a round of leg-spin bowling. He is slowly but steadily honing his tweaking skills to the extent that in the near future he will be confident enough to bowl in matches.
Raju Pathak, Jaiswal’s coach at Rizvi Springfield School in Mumbai is not surprised. “He has always been like that. In school, if the reporting time for practice was 8.30 am, Yashasvi would turn up an hour before, doing the knocking. He is a very hardworking cricketer,” Pathak says, speaking to RevSportz.
The Rajkot Test was special for him, when two of his wards, Jaiswal and Sarfaraz Khan, joined hands and stitched an unbroken 172-run fifth wicket partnership to tame Bazball. Jaiswal scored an unbeaten double hundred in the second innings, hitting a record-equalling 12 sixes. Sarfaraz made a serious impression on his Test debut, scoring half-centuries in both innings. They have kept in touch with ‘Sir’ and speak to him over the phone from time to time.
“Yashasvi was under my watch in 2016-17, when he scored 1,600 runs in a season across different school tournaments in Mumbai. He always had the hunger for runs and played big knocks,” recalls Pathak, adding . “He doesn’t drop his guard after scoring a hundred and starts afresh. So, I am not at all surprised that he has already scored a daddy hundred and two double centuries in his short Test career yet.”
Jaiswal’s Test career is only seven matches old, and he has already scored 861 runs at an average of 71.75. On his Test debut in the West Indies last year, he had scored 171. Now he has back-to-back double hundreds against England – 209 in Vizag and 214 not out in Rajkot. In fact, the 22-year-old getting out for 80 in the first innings of the first Test in Hyderabad was a tad unexpected, for he usually doesn’t lose his wicket when he is nearing his hundred. Another two hours of Jaiswal at the crease and India probably wouldn’t have lost the Test.
“Yashasvi called me before the England series. I told him to utilise this opportunity to cement his place in the Indian team. Great to see him doing that,” Pathak says.
The conversation turned to Sarfaraz and his record-breaking 439 in the Harris Shield inter-school tournament, when the player was 12 years old. Pathak recounts: “It was a three-day fixture, a must-win for us. So several times during Sarfaraz’s innings, I thought about declaration. I wanted to give our bowlers enough time to take wickets. But Sarfaraz convinced me not to declare. He said he would score quickly and walked the talk. We won the match outright, inside three days.”
Tune into our morning show:
Tea-ing off with RevSportz || LIVE https://t.co/kIBIhY0IMv
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) February 21, 2024
Unlike Jaiswal, Sarfaraz, now 26, had to wait for a long time to get his India cap. Pathak gives the low-down of his tête-à-tête with the newcomer. “I just told him to be ready and make full use of the opportunity whenever it comes. He kept on scoring big runs in domestic cricket, but the Indian team middle-order had no vacancy. We had a conversation after he was included in the squad, although he wasn’t sure if he would be in the playing XI.
“I told him, if he got a chance to play, he shouldn’t put himself under any extra pressure and play his natural game. At the end of the day, cricket at all levels is a game of willow and leather and I told Sarfaraz to keep that in mind. I am happy he did that. And I expected him to dominate the England spinners.”
Growing up, Sarfaraz had coaches like Pathak. But the real credit goes to his father Naushad, a failed cricketer, who took pain and walked the extra mile to ensure his son lived the dream. The tears of joy in Rajkot, as Sarfaraz received his Test cap from Anil Kumble, was well earned. Pathak doffs his hat to Naushad. “Without the effort put in by his father, Sarfaraz wouldn’t have been here.”
Sarfaraz bosses spin, but he has had his issues against fast, short-pitched bowling. Pathak agrees that this area of his batting needs improvement. “The pitch for the third Test was flat. Away from home, Sarfaraz will get spicier, seam-friendly pitches. Yes, he plays spin better than he plays fast bowling. At the same time, he is a very gutsy and hardworking cricketer. He will work on his game.”
For more sports information- https://revsportz.in/