“Who Listens In Their 20s?”: Sunil Gavaskar Recalls ‘Mildly Reprimanding’ Yashasvi Jaiswal

Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar has revealed that he “mildly reprimanded” young batter Yashasvi Jaiswal during the Test tour of South Africa in December 2023. Recalling his chat with Jaiswal, Gavaskar said that he schooled the young opener for throwing away his wicket in the second Test against West Indies in Trinidad. After scoring a century on his debut, Jaiswal was destined to reach triple figures in the second game. However, he chased a wide delivery and nicked it to second slip for 57.

Jaiswal was the leading scorer in the recently concluded Test series against England, amassing a staggering 712 runs over five matches. This was the highest aggregate by an Indian batter in a Test series against England.

Gavaskar said he was nice to see Jaiswal scoring big runs against England, suggesting that the youngster to his advice to heart.

“It felt very nice to see Yashasvi getting all those runs and the manner in which he dominated the attack. I had mildly reprimanded him in the hotel elevator on Day 1 of the first Test in South Africa for throwing away his wicket in Trinidad (previous Test) after a good 50 plus score and told him never to do the bowlers any favour. Thankfully, he listened to me and got two big doubles in this series. He got three other half centuries and forgot what I had told him there. But hey, who listens to anyone when one is in his 20s. I didn’t either. Hopefully, he will go on to bigger things and never forgets that he is what he is because of Indian cricket,” Gavaskar told Hindustan Times in an interview.

Having scored 700+ runs in his debut Test series in 1971, Gavaskar recalled that in his case, luck played a major part.

“When a player gets runs in a series then he is very good or very lucky. In my case it was the latter as no less a cricketer than Garry Sobers gave me lives in my first half-century and then my first Test century,” he added.

Besides the two double centuries, Jaiswal also scored three half-centuries and Gavaskar had a light take on it.

“He got three other half centuries and forgot what I had told him there. But hey, who listens to anyone when one is in his 20s. I didn’t either. Hopefully, he will go on to bigger things and never forgets that he is what he is because of Indian cricket,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal was on Tuesday named the ICC ‘Player of the Month’ for February.

The 22-year-old created several records in February, and equalled the long-standing Test record for most sixes in a Test innings (12) during his Rajkot double ton.