I want to be the best world’s best all-rounder, says Rajasthan Royals batter
Rajasthan Royals (RR) opening batter Yashasvi Jaiswal has cleared intentions to take his overall game forward, including with the ball, and become the world’s “best” allround cricketer. At the tender age of 20, Jaiswal holds aspirations of making his mark in both skills in the IPL and for India one day.
“I want to be the world’s best all-rounder, that’s my goal. I am serious! I’m not joking,” the 2020 U-19 World Cup star and Mumbai young gun told Cricket.com in an interview.
While such a dream may seem far from turning into reality at this point, Jaiswal says he is putting in the hard yards to take his bowling to the next level while also keeping his bating strong and healthy.
The stint with Royals at this year’s IPL, Yashasvi Jaiswal said, helped him a great deal, as he got the chance to work closely with two Indian bowling stalwarts – Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. Both the IPL legends aided Jaiswal’s quest to fine-tune his legspin.
“Recently I’ve worked a lot on my bowling with Ash bhai and Yuzi bhai,” he said. “They are really nice and they are amazing human beings. Whenever I needed to go and talk to them, ask about my bowling, they would help me out.”
“When I was playing Under-19 I bowled in every match. I bowled in Under-23 for India also. Only Ranji and IPL I haven’t bowled as much. But I’m still bowling in Vijay Hazare and sometimes in Syed Mushtaq Ali. So then why can’t I be the world’s best allrounder… I’ll just try my best and I will be if I work hard.”
A conversation with Shikhar Dhawan drives the allrounder in Yashasvi Jaiswal
Whenever his not being given a chance to bowl and a seed of doubt enters Yashasvi Jaiswal’s mind on his allround capabilities, the cricketer casts his mind back to a heartening conversation with fellow left-hander and established India star Shikhar Dhawan.
Dhawan, an otherwise jovial, fun-loving personality, gave Jaiswal a life lesson which has stuck with him since. The experienced cricketer told the uncapped talent to think and believe whatever he wants to achieve.
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“Now I have the knowledge that I have to say these things out loud,” Jaiswal says. “Then I’ll get even better. What you see and hear is what you become. I spoke to Shikhar paaji recently and that’s what he told me. ‘If you think that way, only then will you become that way. If you don’t think then how will you become what you want?’”
“He always motivates me, tells me how to approach things. Cricket is there, but the stuff off the field is also very important. If you sit with him, the vibes he will give you, you can’t stop smiling. He’s just an amazing human being. Amazing. Whenever I see him, I just feel happy,” he added.
A solid, languid batter, Jaiswal has bowled most of his career deliveries in List A cricket for Mumbai. He has taken 7 wickets from 11 innings and 267 balls worth of part-time spin bowling he has been used for.
