Yashasvi Jaiswal, The Sensational Runs in IPL and the Great Lesson About Dreams!
Jaiswal scored 98 against KKR [AP Photos]
Maybe all of it is a cliche. Maybe it is not. But, fact is one of the most repetitive things we’ve ever heard in life regardless of who says it and in what context is the following:
“Do not stop dreaming. Don’t stop believing. Dreams do come true!”
Though truth certainly is that much like that life-saving medicine that tastes bitter but is loaded with efficacy, one simply cannot deny dreams. One can’t deny the fact that dreams come true.
And for as long as there’s the power of self belief, just about anything is possible in life.
For guess what?
Don't stop believing
Yashasvi Jaiswal didn’t stop believing. Yashasvi Jaiswal did not stop dreaming.
He went about his cricket with the same passion in this ongoing IPL as he did back in the days when he was just a prospect, and maybe not even a future prospect having nothing other than his bat that could do the taking and dollops of self belief.
There was no money on him. Perhaps not even a stable shelter. No place that remotely looked like a proper home. A vendor by the day and a cricketer who dreamt of doing big things when he wasn’t selling India’s favourite savoury snack on the streets of Mumbai.
That was Yashasvi Jaiswal then. Not that Yashasvi Jaiswal has changed a lot.
Sure, from the rickety and unkempt tracks of the Azaad Maidan, today he’s batting on the proper pitches of the IPL.
Surely, he didn’t have a uniform then, well not a proper one, and what he has now is a proper jersey of one of the most famous teams belonging to the world’s most talked about T20 league.
But what hasn’t changed about the avid youngster is that he didn’t stop believing in the power of dreams then. He hasn’t stopped about believing in those very dreams even today.
Logic dictates- and again it’s easy to say- that the end result of sticking to one’s dreams with much belief is having scored the fastest IPL fifty ever.
The end result is a stable career, a bankable spot in the Rajasthan Royals camp, adulation from the wider world obsessed with cricket in the world’s most populous country and maybe something even more fantastic; appreciation from the man they call King Kohli.
Maybe the lesson is to keep doing the routine, to stick to the basics and to do so whilst eschewing the desire to make much noise.
And what do we see? Nitish Rana conceding the second most expensive maiden over of any IPL season or spell, one that yielded 26 runs including multiple sixes all thanks to Jaiswal.
Though, that’s just the beginning; today Yashasvi Jaiswal has scored 544 of his runs through boundaries and 288 of his runs through sixes.
That’s 832 of his 1,122 IPL runs only by way of hits to the fence, some that were timed to perfection and others, that were quite simply, hammered over the ropes.
Of course, that he’s only faced 750 deliveries to score over 1,100 plus IPL runs is quite a fantastic achievement, one that suggests a strike rate that’s touching 150.
Enviable?
Jaiswal, cut from a different cloth?
At an age where most normal youngsters away from the cut throat world of cricket talk about chasing girls and discuss what smartphones to use and what fancy holiday destination to visit next, here’s Jaiswal who discusses how he keeps his diet nutrient rich and what tomorrow’s gym session entails.
From 35 matches, he’s scored 7 fifties including 1 century, which means after every four or so games, he’s touching a milestone.
Not too bad for a 21-year-old.
Not too awful for a 21-year-old who’s surrounded by an extremity of competition, there being a slew of promising names- Axar Patel, Sarfaraz Khan, Cameron Green, Shimron Hetmyer, Jitesh and who can forget, Tilak Varma?
Ultimately, not too bad for someone who three years before his maiden IPL season, was just a promising youngster like countless others who pop on the Azaad maidan stage with many of them disappearing as the sun sets on the manically exciting marine drive, gobbling up god knows how many careers.
That Yashasvi is here with us and going strong, looking determined to do even better in the next game than he did is indeed sign of great things.
It indeed proves that for as long as one dreams and believes in his own self, then no dream is too far off the hook.
To some, maybe it’s still a cliche. Though maybe to the left hander, who may soon wear the Indian jersey, it’s the mantra of life.
 "Dev Tyagi")