Yashasvi Jaiswal: From selling pani puri, living in a tent on Mumbai maidans to scoring Test Century on debut

Living up to his name and reputation, young India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal entered his name in the record books by slamming an imperious century on his Test debut on day two of the first Test against West Indies at Windsor Park in Dominica.

Yashasvi Jaiswal lives up to reputation

The date July 13 is deeply etched in the memory of Indian cricket. On this very day, 21 years ago, Team India defeated England in the Natwest Trophy Final at the iconic Lord’s by chasing down 325. It was the young brigade comprising Virender Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Mohammed Kaif and Zaheer Khan, who defied all odds to help Team India secure the biggest overseas wins to date.

Fast-forward to 2023, a young boy hailing from a remote town (Bhadohi) in eastern Uttar Pradesh – who was barely eight months old on that historic evening in 2002 when Sourav Ganguly’s boys stunned the English – announced his arrival on the big stage.

यशस्वी भवः ????
.
.#INDvWIonFanCode #WIvIND pic.twitter.com/59Uq9ik1If

— FanCode (@FanCode) July 13, 2023

Yashasvi Jaiswal – who represents Mumbai in the domestic circuit and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL – became the seventeenth Indian ever to slam a century on Test debut. The 21-year-old batter – who has been making all the right noises lately – made the most of the opportunity and entered an elite club.

How Yashasvi Jaiswal rose to prominence

The left-handed batter first shot to fame with his exploits in the domestic circuit when he became the youngest double centurion in the history of List A Cricket at 17 years & 292 days in 2019. The southpaw scored 203 off 154 deliveries against Jharkhand for Mumbai.

He went on to represent India in the U-19 Cricket World Cup 2020 in South Africa and finished as the leading run-scorer of the tournament. He soon got picked up by Rajasthan Royals in the IPL but didn’t have the best of starts in the cash-rich league in his debut season in 2020 – which was held in the UAE.

Yashasvi Jaiswal IPL journey

However, in the 2021 season – which was again played in the UAE (the second half of IPL 2021 was played in UAE) – Jaiswal showed his class and calibre when he smashed a 19-ball fifty against eventual champions CSK.

Showing faith in his batting talent, the Royals retained him for IPL 2022 season and that made him the second-youngest player to be retained across all IPL teams after Sanju Samson.

1️⃣0️⃣0️⃣* – ???????????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????? ???? ????????

1️⃣0️⃣5️⃣ – Shreyas Iyer ???? NZ
1️⃣3️⃣4️⃣ – Prithvi Shaw ???? WI
1️⃣7️⃣7️⃣ – Rohit Sharma ???? WI
1️⃣8️⃣7️⃣ – Shikhar Dhawan ???? AUS
1️⃣2️⃣0️⃣ – Suresh Raina ???? SL
1️⃣0️⃣5️⃣ – Virender Sehwag ???? SA
1️⃣3️⃣1️⃣ – Sourav Ganguly ???? ENG
1️⃣0️⃣3️⃣ – Pravin Amre ????…

— KolkataKnightRiders (@KKRiders) July 13, 2023

The IPL 2023 season turned out to be a landmark season for the exceedingly talented cricketer as he scored a whopping 625 runs in 14 games, with 124 being the highest score. He, thus, became the uncapped player with the most runs in IPL history.

Jaiswal creates record in West Indies

On the tour of the West Indies, the promising young talent – who became the 306th player to make his India debut – showed a lot of maturity and constructed his innings brilliantly en route to this century.

He became the third India opener after Shikhar Dhawan and Prithvi Shaw who slammed a ton on Test debut. Interestingly, this is the first away century as Dhawan and Shaw entered the elite club at home.

A यशस्वी start to your Test career, @ybj_19! Well done.????????
And a splendid century by @ImRo45.#WIvIND pic.twitter.com/o2g4vdwkMN

— Sachin Tendulkar (@sachin_rt) July 13, 2023

At 21 years and 196 days, he also became the fourth youngest Indian to score a hundred in his first Test after Prithvi Shaw, Abbas Ali Baig, and Gundappa Viswanath.

Inspiring story of Yashasvi Jaiswal

While Yashasvi is basking in the glory he rightly deserves but nothing came easily to him. He had to grind not just on the cricket pitch, but also faced a lot of hardships to fulfil his dream of playing cricket.

Harbouring the dreams of playing cricket for India, Jaiswal arrived in the ‘city of dreams’ Mumbai at an early age. Coming from an economically weaker family in UP, Jaiswal worked as a ‘pani-puri seller’ to earn a living and fund his expenses.

He was forced to spend the nights in tents on Mumbai maidans as there was no space at his uncle’s small dwelling in Mumbai slums. However, coach Jwala Singh spotted this young talent – who was trying to make the most of whatever limited chances he was getting on Mumbai maidans – and took him under his wings. The daily grind and personal hardships had already made Jaiswal mature and strong-willed at an early age.

The youngster kept working hard on his skills and eventually realised his dream of representing the country at the highest level. Jaiswal’s inspirational journey is another rags-to-riches story and he’s a living example of ‘dreams do come true’ if you chase them with all your heart.