Yashasvi Jaiswal stole the headlines after his splendid Test debut against West Indies in the First match of the series. He went on to amass 171 runs against the Caribbean opponents. But t has never been smooth sailing for the 21-year-old destructive batter. His story has been the rise from rags to riches. Often it has been reiterated that Yashasvi used to sell pani puri during his childhood. However, this news is completely false as has been clarified by his childhood coach Jwala Singh.
In an interview with Republic World, Jwala Singh made it clear that the rumors of Yashasvi selling pani puris are completely false and that the story has often been completely blown out of proportion by the media. Singh went on to retell the story of how journalists interviewed Yashasvi when he was 16 years old where he mentioned the pani puri incident.
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“I was in England at that time. Without even consulting with me, they met Yashasvi who was just 16 at that time. Yashasvi then contacted me and said that a few journalists want to interview him and I said okay, go ahead. They ended up asking him a few personal questions and Yashasvi, out of his innocence ended up mentioning the panipuri incident. Just to give their stories weightage, they used the panipuri topic as their headline,” Jwala Singh told Republic World.
“Everytime Jaiswal performs, there is a picture of him that comes out with a man at a panipuri stall and the media houses claim to be that man is his father. He was just a random guy, his father doesn’t sell panipuris for a living,” he added.
Clarifying the information, Singh emphasized that the young Rajasthan Royals opener never sold panipuris to earn his living or support his cricket coaching.
“It makes for a good headline but it has only 5% of truth in this. When he first came to Mumbai and was living in a tent, might have done it just for a few days. He did not have basic ammenities, no electricity, proper food, his tent used to be filled with water during the monsoon season. At times he did assist few hawkers as he was just a kid and in return earned small ampunts from them, but all of these things stopped once I started his cricket training and took him under my wings,” Singh said.
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“When he initially came to Mumbai, his parents used to send him INR 1000 every month. His father owns a paint shop. Whatever cricket he is playing today is because of proper coaching, food, and accommodation, I did my best to provide him with everything. Nobody can become a cricketer without proper investment of time and money. I have given 9 valuable years of my life to him,” Singh concluded.
Despite his initial hardships, Yashasvi has shown the world that he is a talented player and can become a great asset for the Indian Cricket Team in the coming years. Owing to his stellar performance in the IPL 2023 campaign, he traveled with the Indian squad to England for the WTC Finals as a reserve replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad.
After the WTC Finals, Yashavi was handsomely rewarded and he took the opportunity and smacked it out of the park. He has handed his Test debut cap by Virat Kohli in the first Test match against West Indies and he went on to slam 171 runs against the Caribbean opponents.
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