Yashasvi Jaiswal: From Street Food Vendor and Tent Living to India's New Star

Jwala Singh, who is mentor, coach and surrogate parent to Yashasvi Jaiswal, proudly displays a photo of the young novice during his bicentenary. against England in Visakhapatnam Photo: Philip Brown/Popperfoto

Jwala Singh wipes away a tear as he sits in his office, surrounded by cricket trophies, and remembers the oath he took on the day his father died. “I promised myself that one day I will become an Indian player.”

He kept his word by sacrificing for England. Singh is the coach of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who scored a double hundred in the second Test last week and is one of world cricket's brightest young talents.

What began as a plan to chronicle Jaiswal's rise from sleeping in a tent at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai to Team India and IPL glory, turns into a story of two men, a coach and a student, as their journeys in life are equally remarkable. .

During the three-hour journey through Mumbai, Singh shares his story at various stops along the way to Azad Maidan, where we conclude our conversation, and points out the place where he first met the 12-year-old boy who helped him fulfill his promise to his dying father .

“We were playing on one of the fields here and when the match was over I went to chat with a friend,” he says. “There were two batsmen in the wicket. One complained about the fields and complained about the gardener, saying how could he hit it? The other was a small left-hander who simply batted brilliantly without saying a word.

«I asked, 'Who is this boy?' My friend said, “Jwala, he has a lot of problems. He left his family in his village. He is crazy about cricket and I am afraid something bad will happen to him.” Suddenly a batsman came up and I asked, “What is your name?” He said, “Yashasvi Jaiswal. I live in this tent.» I asked, “Where is your family?” I was shocked, he lived alone. I don't like to talk about anyone's poverty because I've been through it. His story is my story.”

In 2018, Jaiswal returned to the tent where the cultivators of Azad Maidan had given him shelter for two years while he tried to make it big as a cricketer. Photo: Satyabrata Tripathi/Hindustan Times via Getty Images

From this chance meeting, young Jaiswal would move in with Singh and live with him and his wife until 2022. He still drops by the Air India Sports ground, located almost at the end of the runway at the Mumbai airport where Singh's academy is now located, and he has spent many hours. trains Jaiswal with the bat.

Azad Maidan is very busy as we speak. On a Thursday afternoon, at least 10 matches are played on this small triangular piece of land, and Singh points to the pitch where Sachin Tendulkar and Vinod Kambli set a school partnership world record of 664. There is a bat maker who recently repaired Jaiswal's bat by sanding tree. A street food vendor drives his cart to the ends of the earth, ready for a lunch of panipuri and sugarcane juice. It was a merchant like him who used to ask Jaiswal to help sell his street snack to players for a few rupees as pocket money.

Jwala Singh told Nick his story during time day odyssey through Mumbai Photo: Philip Brown/Popperfoto

Singh was a fast bowler and a lack of strength and conditioning advice, and no doubt sleeping on the gym floor, took its toll on him, with injuries ending his hopes after playing senior state cricket. “One day I passed out due to an injury and it was the worst day of my life. My dreams ended that day. I didn't have money for the operation. I didn't dare talk to my family. If I tell them, they will say: go back to the village, because I studied well. After these injuries, I started coaching children and making money.

“One day my father called and said that he had stage 4 cancer. It was September 14, 2009. I was completely broken. I thought that I need to take care of my father and asked him to come to Mumbai to live with me. He came for two months and died on November 10th. It was then that I made a promise to become a member of the Indian team. I gave myself five years to find someone else I would quit cricket forever.”

It took him only a year, not five, for his path to cross with Jaiswal. There were difficulties at the beginning. Jaiswal was banned from local matches because someone forged his birth certificate so he could register with local cricket authorities. “The hardest thing was that he was mentally weak and upset. He was blackmailed because of this birth certificate. They said if you play we will show this certificate to the association and you will go to jail. That's what he told me. Because of this, he said: “I don’t want to play, I’ll go to jail.” I said I'll look after it.»

Now Singh's dream is to provide India with a whole squad of his protégés from the Indian Airlines Sports Club Photo: Philip Brown/Popperfoto

Jaiswal played in the Harris Shield, an interstate school competition, scoring 47 runs and taking five wickets. “I told him: “Did the police come?” Have you been sent to prison? “No, sir,” he said. I said, “I’m with you and I’ll take care of it.” He played in his next game and scored 319 goals in the three-day game. His father came to meet me. I said that Yashasvi can live here and stay with me, and I promise to help him in everything. His father became very emotional. He said he came to take him back to the village. He said: “We are helpless. We can't help my boy anymore. Now you are his father, mother and guardian. You look after him. You decide what to do. You are the master of his life.» They left it with me. After that I started working with him.”

Over time, Singh became Yashasvi's legal guardian. We go to his first house, which is now being used as a hostel by the current set of his academy, and he shows us Yashasvi's old bedroom. While we are talking, a large jet plane is taking off at the airport, two steps away from us, and it is difficult to hear each other's conversations. We then move to Singh's current home, where there are photos of them eating cake and even more trophies. And also big trophies that need to be lifted with both hands.

A boy waits to bat at Azad Maidan Photo: Philip Brown/Popperphoto

“He lived with us as my son. I got up early and took him to the site. When matches used to be played, he would start hitting the ball in the nets at 9am, then play the game and then score again on his own, that's how hardworking he was. One day I took him to the store to buy a newspaper clipping file. He went in and bought a very small file. I said it was no use. I went in and asked the seller for the largest folder he had. He filled it in two years.”

Jaiswal never needed much technical assistance. He was naturally gifted and Singh talks mainly about his temperament. “He wanted to hit for a long time. He achieved many great results. This is his way.» In 2019, Jaiswal scored 203 in a 50-over match. He scored 171 on Test debut, 209 against England and three more first-class double hundreds.

Others helped too. Singh credits former India players Dilip Vengsarkar and Wasim Jaffer as mentors and Rajasthan Royals, Jaiswal's IPL team, for their invaluable contributions. Singh's academy currently enrolls over 300 boys and enrolls children from villages on scholarship, as well as those who can pay. Prithvi Shaw, currently out for India, was one of his charges, while Hamza Sheikh, who plays for Warwickshire and was the victim of a fielding fiasco while playing for England at the Under-19 World Cup last week , worked regularly with Singh, who shows a message he sent to Hamza's father three years ago saying he would one day play for England Under-19s.

Azad Maidan continues to attract young cricketers who dream of following in the footsteps of its most distinguished alumni Sachin Tendulkar and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

The debut day of Jaiswal's Test last July in the West Indies was the culmination of Singh's work, but he was in the UK and couldn't watch because his academy was touring playing in several leading public schools.

<р>“I know it sounds very blunt, but by then I already knew that he would play for India. It was my trust in him and his hard work. I always told him where I left my cricket: you are going on a journey. We made sure he didn't have the same difficulties when he came to live with us, and through his hard work he has reached the top.”

The heat of the sun indicates that it is lunchtime. But Singh is busy watching cricket at the Maidan. “I'm only 41. I have 20 years left. I want to develop 11 Indian players.»

There is a boy a little over 12 years old who hits the ball well. He is half the size of his adult teammates, but clearly a head taller. Is he next? “That is why I am returning to Azad Maidan. They come every day and take a long train ride. There are no viewing screens, little grass, and each game follows the next. If you can stand out here, you will have great power. Yeah, this guy is good, let’s just watch for a while.”

Chance meeting. Thus began the story of Jaiswal. Perhaps another one is starting.