Most 18 year olds dream of becoming millionaires over their lifetimes. Yashasvi Jaiswal is not your regular 18 year old.
When the coronavirus was just a whisper in the corridors of power, young Yashasvi was busy accumulating runs on his way to a Player of the Series trophy in the acclaimed Under-19 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa, over the months of January and February 2020. This is the same tournament that has paved the way for cricketing stalwarts like Prithvi Shaw, Yuvraj Singh and even our current Indian captain, Virat Kohli. His presence amongst such august company is a testament to his unflappable focus and tremendous determination in the face of adversity.
As a young cricketer blessed with some natural talent, the road to success usually takes a detour to the city of dreams, Mumbai. And so begins the story of this particular cricketer. Born in the town of Suriyawan, Uttar Pradesh, 10 year old Yashaswi convinced his father to take him to Mumbai to hone his skills on the maidans that have produced innumerable sons of the game that have gone on to make the country proud. He was put up in a room above a bakery, working on the premises part-time in order to pay the rent. But numerous time consuming practice sessions threw a spanner in the works, and Yashasvi was relegated to the curb.
The mean streets of Mumbai bring even the hardiest men to their knees, but Yashaswi put his head down and soldiered on. He decided to lodge with the groundsmen of the renowned Azad Maidan in canvas tents, giving him easy access to the cricket pitch. People say that man can sleep hungry, only if his heart is full, and this holds true in the case of Yashaswi. Forced to sell pani-puri by the roadside to make ends meet, he did not let his hand to mouth existence deter him from giving his all on the cricket pitch. On the maidans that see seasoned veterans struggling to put bat on ball, Yashaswi played with a fluency that astonished those that watched him play. Fortunately for the young batsman, amongst the audience was Jwala Singh, the coach and founder of the Mumbai Cricket Club. He spotted the raw talent in this strapping lad, and saw in him the potential to play at the highest level. He took Yashaswi under his wing, adding tools to his arsenal to help elevate his standard of play.
He was catapulted into the limelight in 2014, and the Limca Record Books, for his marathon knock of 319 runs and breathtaking figures of 13/99 in the same match at the Giles Shields Cup, at the age of 12. Since then, there has been no looking back. This innings paved the way for his selection into the squad for the Under-19 Youth Asia Cup where he top scored with 318 runs in the tournament. Yashasvi continued to break records with reckless abandon, becoming the youngest List A cricketer in the world to score a double century, achieving the feat in the Vijay Hazare trophy, in 2019. The national selectors sat up and took notice of this youngster taking the cricket scene by storm, picking him for the Under-19 World Cup, where the rest, as they say, is history.
But Yashaswi’s story doesn’t end there. He was included in the pool of players for the IPL auction in 2020, and was signed by the Rajasthan Royals for a whopping 2.4 crore Rupees, culminating a bidding war that included IPL powerhouses Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab. In a country where rags ever so rarely become riches, a roadside pani-puri vendor surpassed his wildest dreams and became royalty.
