Gautam Gambhir believes we shouldn’t heap too many hopes on Yashasvi Jaiswal during his initial Test outing in South Africa.
India takes on the Proteas in a duo of Test matches, the first one kicks off in Centurion next Tuesday, December 26. Jaiswal is set to step up opening the innings for India, partnering with captain Rohit Sharma.
In response to a question on Jaiswal’s departure for South Africa following a fruitful tour of the West Indies, Gambhir said the following at a Star Sports discussion:
“Extremely different challenge, pace attack and situations because the West Indies have subcontinental-type wickets. Here, when you will play Marco Jansen, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi or Nandre Burger, there will be bounce.”
Gautam Gambhir
The former India opener added:
“Yashasvi Jaiswal has the game, both front and back foot, but it will be a very different challenge. I believe he will get better with this experience. Don’t expect too much, that a young player will come and score a century or a double century in the first match.”
Gautam Gambhir
Jaiswal collected 266 runs across three innings with a commendable average of 88.67 during the two Tests against Windies in July. In his first ever innings, he scored a hefty 171 runs, marking a splendid kick-off to his Test career.
“Even if he scores 25-30 runs and gives a start to India, he will head home after becoming a better player” – Gautam Gambhir on Yashasvi Jaiswal
Gautam Gambhir suggested Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, and Shreyas Iyer could enhance their skills with meaningful contributions to the game in South Africa. His statement was:
“He might do that (score a century) as well but even if he scores 25-30 runs and gives a start to India, he will head home after becoming a better player, whether it is Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill or Shreyas Iyer.”
Gautam Gambhir
The former player, now an analyst, mentioned that novices shouldn’t be overly judged during their initial experiences in unfamiliar terrains such as South Africa or Australia. He elaborated:
“10-15 years ago, we never used to scrutinize the players so much when they used to go on their first tour to South Africa or Australia. If a young player goes to South Africa or Australia for the first time now, he faces as much criticism as he would have faced if he hadn’t scored runs in India.”
Gautam Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir wrapped up his talk with a point about consistency in judging young players. He mentioned that young players from Australia or South Africa don’t face as much criticism when they find playing in Indian conditions challenging.