The Great Gamble
There was a time, not too long ago, when the mere mention of money was anathema in sports ~ professionals were allowed in Wimbledon for the first time in 1968, and in the Olympics only from 1988.
After being adjudged as the Player of the Tournament in the recently concluded U-19 World Cup, Yashasvi Jaiswal, has now credited his success in the tournament in South Africa to practicing on Astro-turf pitches prior to the beginning of the tournament.
Notably, Jaiswal was the highest run-getter in the tournament with as many as 400 runs in six innings. His runs tally included an unbeaten hundred against Pakistan in the semifinal.
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“(His mentor) Jwala Sir had told me that you have to go and bad the player of the series award. We practiced a lot on how to play on bouncy tracks. We practiced on how to play short-balls and that helped me,” Jaiswal was quoted as saying by PTI.
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“I was either playing or leaving short-balls. There is bounce on astro-turf wickets like how it is there, so I batted on astro-turf wickets and that worked,” added the 18-year-old.
Jaiswal, who is seen as the next big thing in the Indian cricket, stated that during the tournament he also learnt how to bat under pressure.
“It was a very good experience, to play in a different country, where the wickets were also different. And I enjoyed batting as I was batting for longer duration in the games as well as in the nets,” he said.
“I learnt a lot while playing and also learnt on how to deal with pressure, as pressure was there during most of the games,” the southpaw added.
“All the U-19 selectors helped me a lot. It was because of Ashish Kapoor sir that I was able to open. I would like to thank all the selectors and coaches,” he concluded.
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