Indian veteran spinner Ravichandran Ashwin had an epic and clever response to former England captain Michael Vaughan's question regarding young batter Yashasvi Jaiswal's future performances in Test Cricket.
Jaiswal had an unforgettable and record-breaking Test series against England. The 22-year-old hogged the spotlight throughout the Test series with an attacking brand of cricket. Jaiswal amassed 712 runs, including 2 double centuries and 3 fifties, at an average of 89 in nine innings.
Yashasvi Jaiswal was just the second Indian batter after legendary Sunil Gavaskar to aggregate over 700 runs in a Test series. Additionally, he was the third youngest batter after Don Bradman and Vinod Kambli to score consecutive double centuries in Tests.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's incredible performances garned a lot of praise and many believed that the Mumbai batter cemented his place in the Indian Test team. Jaiswal, who is currently with Rajasthan Royals in the ongoing IPL 2024, will be travelling to Australia for the Test series in November-December this year.
Following his incredible performance in his debut Test series in India, there were questions whether he could replicate similar performance in Australian conditions.
Ravi Ashwin mouth-shutting response to Michael Vaughan
On the ‘Club Prairie Fire’ podcast, Michael Vaughan asked Ravichandran Ashwin whether Yashasvi Jaiswal can produce his performances on Indian soil in Australian conditions.
In a response, Ashwin stated that he find it ridiculous how young players face pressure before their big assignments because of so-called 'experts' of the game. He added that one wouldn't question a player's potential until they want to see that player failing.
"This is one part of the narrative that I genuinely laugh at. In India as well, you have lots of experts saying about someone who has sort of burst onto the scene. Hey, but hang on, let’s wait and see how they do in Australia, in South Africa, in England." Ashwin said.
"I find it ridiculously funny, because unless and until you want somebody to fail, you wouldn’t say something like that. You’re looking forward to somebody failing, because that’s the beauty of international cricket." he added.
Yashasvi Jaiswal made his Test series debut against West Indies and recorded his maiden international century in the first Test of the series. The Uttar Pradesh-born batter is the second fastest batter after Vinod Kamble to score 1000 Test runs.
In 9 Tests, Jaiswal scored 1028 runs, including a century and two double centuries, at an average of 68.53 across 16 innings.
