Varanasi: It was the proudest moment for the parents of Yashasvi Jaiswal, whose unbeaten century in India’s 10-wicket win in the semifinal against Pakistan took his tally in the tournament to 312 runs making him the top scorer.
When he was taking the ICC U-19 World Cup by storm on the cricket pitch, at home in a nondescript Suriyawan in Bhadohi district of UP his mother Kanchan Jaiswal, a housewife, was offering prayer for his further success. Elated by his triumph his father Bhupendra Jaiswal, who runs a small hardware store, brought sweets to celebrate the occasion. Born in 2001, Yashasvi in October 2019 became the youngest cricketer in the world to score double century. He has been signed by Rajasthan Royals for ₹2.4 crore (US$340,000) to play in IPL 2020.
At the age of ten, he moved to Mumbai to receive cricket training at Azad Maidan. As Dadar was far away from the Maidan, he relocated to Kalbadevi, where he was given accommodation in a dairy shop in return for low-grade work. He was eventually ejected by the shopkeeper as he was unable to provide much help at the shop in between his cricket training. Having no place of his own, Jaiswal stayed in a tent at the Maidan, where he often slept hungry and sold panipuri to make ends meet.
After living in tents for three years, Jaiswal’s cricketing talent was spotted in December 2013 by Jwala Singh, who ran a cricket academy in Santacruz. Singh provided him a place to stay.
Jaiswal first came to the limelight in 2015 when he scored 319 not out and took 13/99 in a Giles Shield match, an all-round record in school cricket, which was recognized by Limca Book of Records. He was then selected in Mumbai under-16 squad followed by India under-19. Jaiswal was the highest run-scorer (318 runs) and player of the tournament at the 2018 ACC Under-19 Asia Cup which India won. In 2019, he struck 173 off 220 balls in a Youth Test match against South Africa under-19s, who were bowled out for 152 and 85, in an innings win. Later that year, he scored 294 runs in 7 matches, including four half-centuries, in the under-19 tri-series in England which also featured Bangladesh.
Jaiswal made his first class debut for Mumbai in the 2018-19 Ranji Trophy on 7 January 2019. He made his List A debut on 28 September 2019, for Mumbai in the 2019-20 Vijay Hazare Trophy. On 16 October 2019, he scored 203 runs off 154 balls in a Vijay Hazare Trophy match against Jharkhand and became the youngest double centurion in the history of List A cricket at 17 years, 292 days. His knock included 17 fours and 12 sixes. He was one of the top five run-scorers at the 2019–20 Vijay Hazare Trophy, with 564 runs in 6 matches at an average of 112.80. He was named in the India B squad for the 2019-20 Deodhar Trophy.
In December 2019, he was named in India’s squad for the 2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup. In the 2020 IPL auction, he was bought by the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2020 Indian Premier League.
