That innings in a 46-run defeat was the final proof that the RR coaches needed. Not much had gone right for the Royals that season (they finished at the bottom of the table), and a batter with a total of 40 runs at a strike-rate of 90.90 was not what they needed. It was a rude awakening for Jaiswal who had emerged as one to keep an eye on at the Under-19 World Cup.

Fortunately for the left-hander, Bharucha, then Director of Cricket, believed in him. He indulged in some straight talk with the youngster. spelling out in precise detail the kind of work that was needed to get up to the required level.

“My belief came from watching him in the RR trials (held at the DY Patil Stadium, Navi Mumbai). The first ball he faced, he walked across and ramped it over fine leg. I immediately said: 'He is going to do something different'. So, when the moment came in the IPL when they were sending him home, I went back to my first instinct. 'I believe it is possible, you decide what you want to do,' I told him. That is the time he was not even finding a place in the RR side, let alone dreaming of playing for India," said Bharucha.

The frank talk hit a nerve. Yashasvi buckled down. Bharucha had a dream student and the transformation is there for all to see. After his impactful performance in domestic cricket and IPL, on Thursday, Yashasvi took to Test cricket with a hundred on debut.

“This is now his third year training with me. This is exactly where we wanted him to be, in fact we are probably six months quicker than we thought.”

Skill development

How Jaiswal has been practicing is a very big part of his success story. "It has been that way only from Day 1," said Bharucha. “As far as development goes, our objective is we don’t focus on T20 or ODI or Test match, we focus on which area needs to be improved on the ground. Basically, the idea was to build somebody who could play 360 degrees. That was the first objective: to back that he can bat and play every shot that exists in the book. Then the second layer and third layer are where we bring a level of variability to practice," said Bharucha.

Except when there is a short window for the change in formats. An example is how they prepared before the Irani Cup, where Jaiswal hit hundreds in both innings, when they had two days to switch from T20 to the longer format. "For two days, our nets were only about playing straight and leaving the ball. The reason you do this is to hack the process when basically we got only two days, so how do we prepare quickly?"

On-side game

The RR Academy chief says, when the batter reaches a point where he knows he will not miss a single ball, that’s when they stop otherwise they keep perfecting the stroke. Extra emphasis has been given to strengthening Jaiswal’s on-side game.

“Something we have worked hard on is to ensure that the ball (coming into his pads) gets flicked on the onside. We have focused on opening up his on-side game, which was his problem from Day 1. Both of us get very upset when the ball hits the pad,” he said.

This madness to slog endless hours, where does the motivation come from?

"Everybody has that fright, that insecurity, what if I lose everything? He is no different, and where he comes from it is even more heightened. He is very much aware of where he comes from and the fact that he never had anything, he is very conscious of that. Everything for him is a bonus. He lives his life like that. He knows 'I have maintain the same way of thinking and same values'."