‘Hard work draws excellence to your doorstep’. The quote has been proved correct by a teenager from Uttar Pradesh who chased down his dreams to don the blue Indian jersey.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, the 17-year-old boy, has recently been drafted in the Indian U-19 squad for the upcoming tour of Sri Lanka. He currently plays for Mumbai in the domestic circuit. But his journey to the India U-19 dressing room wasn’t a cake walk.
(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)
Son of a Bhadohi-based shop-keeper, Yashasvi moved to Mumbai to fulfil his cricketing dreams when he was just 11. He met his uncle Santosh, who was a manager of the Muslim United Club. Since his house wasn’t big enough to accommodate Yashasvi, Santosh requested the owners of the club to allow the boy to stay in a tent.
Recalling the struggles of old days, the 17-year-old cricketer said, “It happened after I was asked to leave the dairy at Kalbadevi. After playing cricket the entire day, I would get tired and go to sleep. One day, they threw out my luggage saying I do nothing, don’t help them and only sleep.”
For the next three years, Yashasvi attended his cricket practice in the morning and spent his nights at the tent with the groundsmen at Mumbai Azad Maidan.
For him, the next big challenge was to make ends meet. Hence, he put a pani-puri stall during Ram Leela, sold fruits and even played matches with older boys to earn a few bucks.
“I earned well by selling pani-puri during Ram Leela. But I prayed that my teammates wouldn’t come there. Sometimes they did and I would feel bad serving them.”
(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)
Ahead of the tour, Mumbai U-19 coach Satish Samant has praised Yashasvi’s skills and termed him Mumbai’s next big star.
“Most under-19 players get tempted to play too many shots too early. He [Yashavi] does not. Secondly, he is not in any of the social media platforms. He has talent and if he keeps focus like this, he will be next big from Mumbai player.”
India U-19 tour of Sri Lanka commences in July. They will play 2 4-day matches and 5 ODIs during the tour.