India’s next star Yashasvi Jaiswal left home at 11 to chase dream

For the first time in more than three decades, Australia will play India in a five-Test series this summer, giving the series an Ashes*-style significance.

And when the visitors arrive, all eyes will be on rising star Yashasvi Jaiswal.

The son of a shopkeeper in India’s rural north, Jaiswal left home for Mumbai* as an 11-year-old boy to chase his cricketing dream. That child initially found work and shelter at a dairy – but not for long.

“After playing cricket all day, I would get tired and fall asleep,” Jaiswal told the Indian Express in 2020. “One day, they threw out my luggage, saying I don’t help them and only sleep.”

For the next three years, Jaiswal lived in a tent, selling pani puri* – a type of Indian street food – at Mumbai’s famous Azad Maidan, a 25-acre cricketing playground, covered in pitches that regularly hosts inter-school matches.

“I prayed that my teammates would not show up for pani-puri,” he said. “Sometimes they did, and I felt bad serving them.

“I always used to see boys my age bringing food or their parents had big lunches with them. As for me, it was — khana khud banao, khud khao (make your own food, eat alone). No breakfast. Catch hold of anyone around and (ask) them to buy breakfast.”

Jaiswal has spent the past 18-months establishing himself as the most exciting Indian batter of his generation, just as legendary batsman Virat Kohli prepares to pass the bat.

Left-handed, 22, and from the famous Mumbai school of cricket, Jaiswal boasts a batting average of 56.28 with a strike rate of 70.13. And like Kohli before him, when he is in full flow, nothing feels out of reach for India.

HUNGRY FOR RUNS
By the time Jaiswal was 17, he had broken through as a professional cricketer, making history in 2019 as List A cricket’s youngest ever double-century maker. That was the third ton of his maiden* List A season, and hinted at an appetite for big scores that would only grow with his Player of the Tournament performance at the 2020 Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Three years and a mountain of first-class, List A and IPL runs later, Jaiswal would take that hunger to the international stage, feasting on the West Indies’ attack on Test debut* with a patient 171 off 387.

There’s been two more Test tons since – both double-centuries* against England – and across his 14 Tests he has passed fifty 11 times.

He pins his ability to go big on those early streetwise* years in Mumbai.

“In India, when you grow up, you work really hard for each and every thing” he told the host broadcaster during India’s Test series against England earlier this year. “Even when getting the bus, you have to work really hard to get the bus.

“You have to work really hard to get to the train and auto (rickshaw*) and everything. I have done that since my childhood and I know how important every innings is and that’s why I really work hard in my (practice) sessions and every innings counts for me and for my team.”

“The guy has got real talent,” Indian captain Rohit Sharma said after the young gun’s second double-century. “He has got the game to play in all sorts of conditions.

“He has got all the ingredients for success at this level. What he has shown us in this brief period of time, you can bet on him and expect him to do wonders for the team.”

The hosts have their work cut out for them: Australia has not beaten India in a Test series since 2014-15.

India won at home in 2017 and 2023, and more significantly in Australia in 2018-19 and 2020-21.

Remarkably, all four series have finished 2-1 with a draw, so the margins* have been relatively fine. Pat Cummins has led Australia to an Ashes series win, World Test Championship crown and one-day World Cup glory, but when asked earlier this year about what still motivates him, he identified beating India in a Test series for the first time as his big-ticket goal.

CELEBRATE THE SUMMER OF CRICKET
To celebrate the five-Test series that starts in Perth on Friday, November 22, News Corp Australia is publishing a 16-page ultimate launch guide on November 17.

Following Tuesday’s historic eight-page print and digital wrap in three languages – English, Hindi* and Punjabi* – Sunday’s ultimate guide will also feature content in Hindi and Punjabi and will appear in The Sunday Telegraph in Sydney, the Sunday Herald Sun in Melbourne, The Sunday Mail in Brisbane and The Sunday Mail in Adelaide.

If you’re lucky enough to attend a match live, you can expect to hear all three languages at grounds this summer, with 200,000 Australians speaking Hindi, and Punjabi now the nation’s fastest-growing language, with more than 230,000 speakers, up 80 per cent in the last decade.

WATCH THE VIDEO

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GLOSSARY

• the Ashes: cricket series between England and Australia named for the prized cremated cricket stump kept in a pottery urn now preserved at Lord’s Cricket Ground in England
• Mumbai: formerly Bombay and the home of the “Bollywood” film industry, port city Mumbai is the capital of Maharashtra state in southwestern India and the country’s financial and commercial centre
• pani puri: deep-fried hollow pastry balls filled with chickpeas or potato, herbs and spices
• maiden: the first time something has happened, the initial or first instance
• Test debut: representing your country at an international competition for the first time
• double-century: scoring 200 runs as a batsman
• streetwise: someone Someone who knows how to deal with difficult situations in big cities
• rickshaw: small, covered passenger vehicle with two wheels that is usually pulled by one person
• Hindi: a language spoken in northern India and one of the country’s official languages
• Punjabi: language of the Punjab region in northwest India and Pakistan

EXTRA READING

15yo stuns in WBBL cricket debut

Teen tapped for Aussie ODI squad

Aussies claim U19 World Cup title

QUICK QUIZ

1. How old was Yashasvi Jaiswal when he left home?
2. Which Indian city did he move to in order to chase his cricketing dream?
3. How did Jaiswal support himself at such a young age?
4. Jaiswal has scored two double-centuries playing against which country?
5. When was the last time Australia beat India in a Test series?

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CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Cricketing dream
The opportunities and lifestyle that young, aspiring Australian sports stars have are a world away from the hardship that young 11-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswa had, leaving home in rural India to chase his cricketing dream.

Compare the key developmental life stages below between Yashasvi and an average young Australian.

Time: allow 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
The Indian team is a fierce rival of our Australian cricket team and a hard team to ever beat!

What do you think it is about Indian culture, lifestyle and tradition that breeds such amazing cricket talent?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Health and Physical Education, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Read this!
A headline on an article – or a title on your text – should capture the attention of the audience, telling them to read this now. So choosing the perfect words for a headline or title is very important.

Create three new headlines for the events that took place in this article. Remember, what you write and how you write it will set the pace for the whole text, so make sure it matches.

Read out your headlines to a partner and discuss what the article will be about based on the headline you created. Discuss the tone and mood you set in just your few, short words. Does it do the article justice? Will it capture the audience’s attention the way you hoped? Would you want to read more?

Consider how a headline or title is similar to using short, sharp sentences throughout your text. They can be just as important as complex ones. Go through the last text you wrote and highlight any short, sharp sentences that capture the audience.