India’s veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin heaped praise on young batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, acknowledging his immense talent but also stressing the importance of navigating both success and failure. Ashwin’s comments come after Jaiswal’s phenomenal run in the recently concluded Test series against England, where he amassed a staggering 712 runs, becoming only the second Indian batsman after the legendary Sunil Gavaskar to achieve this feat.
This stellar performance has naturally fueled discussions about Jaiswal’s future prospects, particularly his ability to replicate this success in different cricketing conditions. On the YouTube channel ‘Club Prairie Fire’, former England cricketer Michael Vaughan queried Ashwin about Jaiswal’s recent exploits.
Ravichandran Ashwin, known for his outspoken nature, took a lighthearted jab at pundits who immediately raise questions about a young player’s ability to perform in overseas conditions. “This is one part of the narrative that I genuinely laugh at,” Ashwin said. “In India especially, you have lots of experts saying about someone who has sort of burst onto the scene, ‘Hey, but hang on, let’s wait and see how he performs in Australia, in South Africa, in England.'”
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Ravichandran Ashwin argues that such pronouncements can have an unintended negative effect. “Unless and until you want somebody to fail, you wouldn’t say something like that,” he pointed out. “The beauty of international cricket is the experience, right? And life is all about experiencing new things. It’s going to be challenging, that’s the whole point of travelling somewhere and getting on top of it.”
While acknowledging Jaiswal’s natural talent, Ravichandran Ashwin believes that facing setbacks is a crucial part of a cricketer’s development.
“Somebody like Yashasvi is a natural-gifted ball-striker,” Ashwin said. “But I am sure, down the line, he is going to get the opportunity to fail and also see what it takes to succeed. That’s the wonderful nature of our great game.” Ravichandran Ashwin expressed confidence in Jaiswal’s ability to adapt and learn: “I think in Australia, or wherever it is, Yashasvi has the tools to be successful. But he is also going to go through the journey of learning something valuable. He will even have the failures and he will learn the valuable lessons. I think he is going to be double the player than what he is right now.”
However, Ravichandran Ashwin remained cautious about making predictions: “For me, it’s too pre-mature to say how he will go there and what it is gonna look like when he goes there. But one thing is certain, he is going to learn some valuable experience. Whether he is going to score the same buckets of runs that he has been scoring, only time will tell.”
Yashasvi Jaiswal and Ravichandran Ashwin are currently teammates with the Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024. While Jaiswal couldn’t replicate his Test form in the first match for RR, scoring only 24 runs, it’s important to remember his impressive performance last season, where he emerged as the team’s leading run scorer with 625 runs, including a century and five fifties.
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Jaiswal’s journey has just begun, and as Ashwin rightly points out, facing challenges and overcoming them will be crucial in shaping him into a world-class cricketer. Cricket fans around the world will be eagerly watching to see how this talented young batsman navigates the highs and lows of international cricket.
