'Like father-son relationship': Yashasvi Jaiswal's coach Jwala Singh talks about IPL star's journey | Exclusive

Yashasvi Jaiswal of Rajasthan Royals scored his maiden IPL ton against Mumbai Indians, driving his team to a total of 212/7 in 20 overs after opting to bat against Mumbai Indians. Jaiswal's innings of 124(62) featured an impressive 16 boundaries and eight maximums, and he reached his century in just 53 balls. He and Jos Buttler added 72 runs for the opening wicket before Buttler was dismissed by Piyush Chawla for 18(19) in the 8th over.  

Played all his cricket in Mumbai. And gets his first IPL ton in Mumbai. A full circle for Yashasvi Jaiswal! pic.twitter.com/Ih20R1JXur

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 30, 2023

DNA reached out to Yashasvi Jaiswal’s coach Jwala Singh. We asked him about Yashasvi, how did he find him and what was his journey like with him? 

The coach had a lot to say. It was visible from the way he was answering the questions that he held Yashasvi very close to his heart. He said that it is almost like a father-son relationship. The coach said, “When I started coaching, my vision was very clear. And it was clear that I am going to create players who will reach great levels. And I had promised myself in 2010 that if in five years, I don't see any potential in myself, or in my abilities, I will close this, and I'll do something else. So, in that process, I was searching for some kids. I tried training many kids in between. I worked hard on them, but I didn't get the results what I wanted.” 

After looking around for so long, he said that “in 2013, I went to Azad Maidan where I witnessed him play for the first time. My friend told me that he ran away from his village, and he lives alone and wants to become a cricketer, but he does not realise that it is not that easy to become a cricketer. He lives alone, does not have a place to live or any money to survive. After some time that kid came out, and he removed the helmet. I went to him and asked for his name. He said, sir, my name is Yashasvi Jaiswal. When I asked him where he lived, he pointed to the tent of Muslim United. He said that his parents were back in his village, and they used to send him money to survive. He then told me that he was from Bhadhoi, Uttar Pradesh. He said that he was facing a lot of problems and that people were not letting him play. I asked if he had played somewhere. He said that he had played in Harris Shield where he scored 200 runs and took 8 wickets. I thought that he was just trying to impress me and so I asked him for proof and called him over to my office the next day.” 

Coach informed that Yashasvi had come with two pieces of crumbled newspaper cuttings which proved that he played so well. He gave Yashasvi a chance to prove to him that he was as good or not.  

He sent Yashasvi to play 2 matches where he played well. One of the matches was witnessed by Yashasvi’s father too. That’s when they first interacted. Singh claims that Yashasvi’s father had promised him that there would be no interference from their end and that he just wanted his child to play cricket and become a star player. Yashasvi’s father said “Aap mere beta ko apna beta bana lijiye. Aap isse jo karwana chaho karwaao. Isko kuch bhi nahi chahiye. Isko bass cricket khelna hai.”  

After seeing Yashasvi’s father tear up in front of him, he took full responsibility for Yashasvi. But there were many obstacles. Before starting up, Yashasvi’s mental health was to be taken care of. He was very low, and Jwala gave him a lot of coaching. He made him meet Wasim Jaffer, a good friend of Singh’s, who also motivated Jaiswal. Doctors said that the player’s knees were very weak and so they got him treated through physiotherapy and training.  

“He was first bid for IPL in 2019 but we were very tied up with his U-19 training. But when he got bid this year and got in Rajasthan Royals, I was extremely happy. Rajasthan Royals has a reputation of grooming young players, and I knew that they were taking him in the team to make him play and that they would not just make him sit out,” Jwala added. 

We asked about Yashasvi’s story of selling pani-puris. He said that neither he nor Yashasvi like talking about this story. “This story makes it look like he was a pani-puri seller one day and played cricket the next. To play cricket, you need to have the passion, the drive. He had all of that. He was inspired to play the sport. Yashasvi used to help vendors outside Azad Maidan sell pani-puri and would earn a couple extra bucks just to make the ends meet.”  

We asked Jwala Singh if he had witnessed Yashasvi hit his first century in IPL 2023’s match of RR vs MI. We also asked him if he saw him play other tournaments too.  

“The first time I saw him play was during the Under 19 World Cup. It was in South Africa and India was playing against Pakistan. Yashasvi specifically asked me not to watch him play but I had friends in South Africa who helped me get into the match and I secretly watched him play. He scored a 105 not out and it was a very proud moment for me.”  

Yashasvi used to get nervous whenever the coach watched him play and so he didn’t ask the coach to come and watch his games. But during the IPL match of Rajasthan Royals against Mumbai Indians, something different happened. He said, “Yashasvi, during the IPL match, asked me to come and watch him play. I said ‘Yeh hui na baat’ because I felt like the kid was all grown up. Then he added something which made me feel that yes, now he has made something of himself. Yashasvi said that ‘Sir, aap aa jaao, mai sab arrange kar dunga.’ I was the one who used to arrange everything for him for as long as I can remember and now, he said that he would arrange it for me. That feeling was unexplainable. I reached late for the match but when I did, he was in his 90s. He scored his century in front of me, and it was my proudest moment. It was almost like I was the one playing in the field. Like I was in the middle.”  

The coach claimed that he saw a part of himself in Yashasvi because he was never given the opportunity of getting proper training and guidance and this was a chance for him to give this to someone who was in a similar situation to him.  

Yashasvi, in his many interviews, has said that Jwala sir had changed his entire life around. Now, people are just waiting for this star player to score more such runs for Rajasthan Royals, now, and eventually for India.