Former India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has praised Yashasvi Jaiswal for his consistent performances in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 series. The legendary opener doubted the young batsman’s ability to score in Australia after inconsistent performances in South Africa.
Despite India’s 1-3 loss in the recently concluded five-match series against Australia, Jaiswal stood out, amassing 391 runs at an average of 43.44 across 10 innings on challenging, seam-friendly pitches.
During a discussion on Star Sports, Gavaskar shared his views on Jaiswal’s performances in the series.
“This player’s biggest virtue is that he learns a lot from his first mistake. The way he got out last year in both Test matches in South Africa, I had a slight doubt in my mind whether he would be able to score runs on similar pitches in Australia,” he responded.
The former India captain commended the left-handed opener for improving by learning from his mistakes.
“In the first innings in Perth, he opened the face of his bat slightly and got caught at gully. In the second innings, he played with an absolutely straight bat to mid-off and mid-on, and when he was flicking, he was playing wide of mid-on and not towards square leg. He batted solidly,” Gavaskar observed.
“It’s commendable how he improved in every match”- Sunil Gavaskar on Yashasvi Jaiswal
In the same discussion, Sunil Gavaskar highlighted that Yashasvi Jaiswal devised distinct plans for various types of bowlers.
“He was standing outside the crease when it was swinging, especially when (Scott) Boland was bowling as his length is quite predictable. The other bowlers, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins, bowl different lengths, some balls are short, but Boland bowls very few bouncers. So it’s praiseworthy how he kept improving in every match,” he explained.
However, the former cricketer-turned-commentator advised the young batsman to take his time at the beginning of his innings.
“I felt he was sometimes getting too aggressive early on. These are Test matches, played over five days. Regardless of the pitch conditions, give yourself some time at the start, and the bowling becomes easier to handle,” Gavaskar explained.
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