Former Indian batter Cheteshwar Pujara said that star India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal will be lucky to escape a ban after his altercation with Sri Lankan pacer Asitha Fernando on Day 1 of the second Test at Colombo as well. He was at his free-flowing best, scoring 45 off 52 deliveries, when Fernando cleaned him up with an in-swinging peach delivery as well. Fernando celebrated wildly with a fiery send-off to Jaiswal, prompting the batter to turn back and go at him. The duo even made physical contact for a moment before they were separated by other Sri Lankan players as well.
Talking about the incident, Cheteshwar Pujara said on the Sony Sports Network: “You show it with your performance and not with words or body language. Yashasvi is generally a good guy and normally won’t get into such things. Hopefully he’ll play India’s next Test in New Zealand and doesn’t get banned because of this. But if he does, he will learn his lesson.”
“Someone from the team management must have a word with him. When you talk cricket with him, he talks a lot as he wants to learn and improve. But the team management rarely talks with the players about such incidents and how you tackle them. So the coaching staff has to sit with him and tell him that this isn’t acceptable,” he again shared.
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Meanwhile, former Indian batter WV Raman believes Yashasvi Jaiswal’s lack of big scores in the ongoing Sri Lankan series led him to react aggressively on the first day of the second Test. He has yet to score a fifty in three innings of the series, despite crossing 30 twice.
“Restraint is so important; else you are going to get in trouble. There is a line that you can’t cross. Here, it was more the frustration coming out from Jaiswal. He got out when he was shaping really well in the first Test. You don’t normally get run out like that in a Test match. Here, once again, he was set and got out to a delivery he should have played forward. He knows that he’s letting go of opportunities so it was that frustration coming out,” said WV Raman.
“Someone should remind both of them that this is not a contact sport. It is cricket and not football. One can always remain aggressive without getting into an act like this. It was unnecessary. I am sure the match referee will come in with hard penalties for both of these players,” he concluded.
