Penbugs
CricketInspiringIPLMen Cricket

From selling pani puris to opening with Steve Smith- Yashasvi Jaiswal

Mumbai is a city of dreams. Every year, millions of people move here and try to be a part of it. They want to break into Bollywood. They want to become a cricketer. At times, if you are successful in cricket, I’m pretty sure there will be someone out there looking for a script for a biopic. Now, that’s for later.

Jwala Singh had a similar dream. He moved from Gorakhpur to become a cricketer. He had financial restrictions, and continuous knee injuries did not help him as well. He gave up. Years later, he is one of the best coaches in Mumbai. He played moulded Prithvi Shaw, and years later, he ran into a boy, and their life changed forever.

It was a busy day at Azad Maidaan, of course, everyone loves this place, people of different ages, dying to get their hands on the bat. Jwala Singh looked around, and one kid caught his eye. He wasn’t well-built, but his concentration and stroke-making was a pleaser. Singh was very impressed and wanted to learn about him.
**
Jaiswal was 11 when he moved from Bhadohi near Varanasi to Mumbai. Just like every other kid, Sachin Tendulkar inspired him to take up the game, and he came to Mumbai to become one like him. His uncle was a manager in Muslim United Club and lived in Mumbai.

Jaiswal stayed in a Dairy in Kalbadevi initially. He would go out, play cricket the entire day and would fall asleep early. Since he couldn’t help the people in the Dairy they threw him away.

Since his uncle’s place was tiny, he could stay there. His uncle requested the owners of the club to allow Jaiswal to stay in the groundsmen tent. For the next three years, Jaiswal spent his life in a tent along with groundsmen in the Azad Maidaan.

He would play all day and would sleep in the tent in the night. He ran out of money and had to take up some job. So, he began selling Pani Puri- where he would run into his teammates constantly-in the evening at Ram Leela and would take up odd jobs to make ends meet. He also earned money by playing cricket with older kids. At times, it wasn’t the game, but he would do the scoring, umpiring and at times, would fetch balls.

The money wasn’t enough for him to have three meals a day. So, a lot of times, he would go to bed with an empty stomach, and there were days where he would catch hold of people to help him with breakfast.

*
When a few told about Jaiswal’s financial situation, Singh could relate to his story, and he couldn’t let him suffer. He took him under his wing, provided him with food and took care of everything. Singh knew he was special, but he didn’t treat him like one. Singh made sure that Jaiswal kept his feet grounded always. He wanted him to earn things. He challenged him to do so.
**
One day, Jaiswal returned with cash prize after a successful tournament. He wanted to buy a helmet with that money. When he bought one, the helmet was more than the cash prize he won and was expensive. Singh was furious that day and did not allow him to use the helmet because he had to earn it. Jaiswal would walk around and always had an eye on the helmet, but he knew he had to do something big to earn it.

**
In 2015, Jaiswal entered Limca Book of records when he scored 319 not out and took 13 for 99 in a Giles Shield match for his school. Soon came the Under-16 call-up for the state. Consistent performances in the junior cricket helped Jaiswal to gain a place in the Indian Under 19 team that travelled to Sri Lanka in 2018. Jaiswal scored 130 runs from his 3 matches. Later, in the 2018 Under-19 Asia Cup, he was the player of the tournament with 318 runs.

This helped him to win a place with Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy where he made his debut against Chhattisgarh. He, not only earned the spot, but also the helmet that he bought years ago. Singh handed over the helmet to him after he got into Mumbai team.

In the Vijay Hazare Trophy, he had three centuries including a double ton.

In the latter part of 2019, he scored 173 from 220 balls in Youth Test against South Africa and followed it up with 294 runs in Under-19 tri-series involving England and Bangladesh.

It was the big day, the IPL auction. Singh wanted Jaiswal to calm himself down, and so, he didn’t allow to watch the initial part of the auction and even sent him grocery stores to keep him away.

Jaiswal was one of the hits in the auction as #MI, #KKR, #KXIP, RR fought for him. In the end, RR won the bid.

While he was glad about the money and everything, his eye was on the under-19 world cup. Singh promised Jaiswal that he would buy him a car if he ended the tournament as the leading run-scorer. Jaiswal, on the other hand, wanted to take Singh’s old car so that he could buy a new one. As a mark of respect, Jaiswal chose to wear the birth date of Singh in the back of his jersey.

Jaiswal once again earned the car by scoring 400 runs in the tournament. The semi-final against Pakistan was special for him in many ways.

Singh travelled all the way from India to watch him play as a surprise. He made to hide from Jaiswal as he could panic seeing his coach here. Jaiswal had no idea about his coach’s presence and crossed the ton with a beautiful slog sweep. This was Chak de India kind of moment. Very special. Very deserving.
*
Jaiswal’s story is nothing short of an inspiration. Also, talking about the biopics, the rumour has it that the Bollywood is already working on a story based on Jwala Singh’s life.

Related posts

விராட் கோலி – அனுஷ்கா சர்மாவிற்கு பெண் குழந்தை பிறந்தது

Kesavan Madumathy

விரல் வித்தைக்காரனின் வியூகம்

Shiva Chelliah

யாரு சார் இந்த கிறிஸ்டோபர் ஹென்றி கெய்ல்..?

Shiva Chelliah

மோதி விளையாடு – ஐபிஎல் 2021

தென்ஆப்பிரிக்க தங்கங்கள்!

Penbugs

டி வில்லியர்ஸின் ஆல்-டைம் ஐபிஎல் லெவன்: எம்எஸ் டோனி கேப்டன்

Kesavan Madumathy

சென்னை அணியில் கொரோனா பாதிப்பு

Penbugs

சாம்சன் – தி கில்லர்

Shiva Chelliah

சந்தீப் ஷர்மா – ஸ்விங் சாணக்யன்

Shiva Chelliah

சச்சின் சாதனையை முறியடித்த கே.எல்.ராகுல்

Penbugs

சகரியாவின் சக்ஸஸ் | ராஜஸ்தான் ராயல்ஸ்

Shiva Chelliah

கலியுக தர்ம யுத்தம்!

Shiva Chelliah

Leave a Comment