Rohit Sharma opens up on ‘You belong here’ pep talk with Yashasvi Jaiswal after India crush West Indies in 1st Test
Rohit Sharma was all praise for Yashasvi Jaiswal after the India opener played a match-winning knock in his debut game against the West Indies.
He came, he saw and he conquered. As Rohit Sharma rightly put it, Yashasvi Jaiswal has done the hard yards. From having a rude awakening at Rajasthan Royals (RR) to smashing records in his debut game for India, youngster Jaiswal has raised his stocks as an opening batter in the 2023 season. After an impressive domestic season, Jaiswal received his first-ever India cap in the 1st Test against the West Indies.
Scripting a blockbuster rags-to-riches story in India's first game of the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, Jaiswal slammed a brilliant hundred on debut to help Rohit and Co. register a comfortable win over the West Indies on Friday. Opener Jaiswal shattered multiple records with his marauding knock against Kraigg Brathwaite and Co. in the 1st Test of the two-match series.
'You have done the hard yards, enjoy your time here'
Reflecting on Jaiswal's memorable debut for the visitors, Indian skipper Rohit recalled the conversations he had with the youngster. "He has the talent, he has shown us in the past that he is ready. Came and batted sensibly. The temperament was also tested, at no stage he was panicking. The chats we had were to remind him that 'you belong here. You have done the hard yards, enjoy your time here'," said Rohit, who slammed his 10th Test ton in the same encounter.
Jaiswal became the 17th Indian batter to score a century on Test debut. The RR opener completed his century in 215 balls. The 21-year-old was the fifth-highest run-scorer in IPL last season. The India opener amassed 1845 first-class runs in 26 innings prior to his Test debut. Jaiswal played a sublime knock of 171 off 387 balls as Rohit and Co. thrashed the West Indies by an innings and 141 runs. The India opener was also named the Player of the Match.
"I would like to start by saying it was a great effort with the ball. Getting them out for 150 set the game for us. We knew batting would get tough, it wasn't easy to score runs. We knew we wanted to bat only once and bat long. Get over 400 runs and then we came out and bowled really well," Rohit added.
