After a fantastic first season, any international cricket player worth his salt will tell you how crucial the second season is.
If the opponent is accustomed to his style of play and there is ample on-field evidence accessible for analysis, then skyrocketing expectations are only one facet of it.
Yashasvi Jaiswal can count himself fortunate to have faced the finest in the business, Jasprit Bumrah, in the nets before the real action started, as he looks to overcome the second-season blues.
Bumrah regularly put a halt to the Mumbai youngster’s off-stump cart-wheeling for amusement during Monday’s net session. Jaiswal is hoping that his erratic form in the nets won’t affect the first Test match between Bangladesh and India, which begins here on September 19.
With ten Test matches this season, Jaiswal enters with a fierce reputation as a potential megastar in the making after amassing more than 1000 runs in his first nine matches, the most of which came against England in a single series.
However, Jaiswal’s detractors will undoubtedly draw attention to the fact that he struggled against pace and bounce in a couple of those nine games, particularly those against South Africa on the bouncy grounds of Centurion and Newlands (Cape Town).
Even while the England series, in which he faced a lot of slow bowlers, was a big success, Jaiswal’s true test will come later this year in five Test matches in Australia.
Additionally, Taskin Ahmed and Nahid Rana, two big Bangladeshi speed merchants, will test him with pace and bounce before he meets Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, and Josh Hazlewood.
With two low scores in the Duleep Trophy, where Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed did challenge him with extra bounce—something that is still work in progress—Jaiswal’s first-class season hasn’t exactly gotten off to a good start.
Jaiswal was clean bowled twice that day by Bumrah, who bowled him a lot; also, he was hit several times by the outside edge of his bat. Jaiswal appeared to have been outplayed in terms of swing and velocity when Bumrah managed to shape the ball. He didn’t appear to be in the finest of shape, and it wasn’t fun to watch as his stumps flew everywhere as he was playing with heavy hands and attempting to push hard during deliveries.
He was actually bothered by bounce, swing, and pace. He didn’t seem to be certain of the location of his off-stump.
Not only did Bumrah succeed, but net bowlers such as Simarjeet Singh, Gurnoor Brar, and Gurjanpreet Singh also overcame his outside boundaries.
The illustrious Virat Kohli was once observed conversing with him and attempting to clarify his mistakes.
Taking turns, Kohli and Jaiswal batted for almost an hour, each facing almost fifty balls.
Kohli blasted his signature cover drive and on-drive during this session.
Regarding Jaiswal, he attempted to omit numerous deliveries, particularly those from Bumrah.
The course featured recent bounce due to the red soil practice pitch, and playing shots were not well executed.
With a few balls that were bowled against Kohli’s pads, Bumrah was also able to cause some minor disruption.
Following Bumrah’s roughly five-over performance, both hitters came up against the practice bowlers.
Jaiswal occasionally rocked back to play the square cut, showing that he was more at ease against spinners.
And then there was Rishabh Pant, who scored easily against the Ajit Rams and M Siddharths despite always viewing deliveries from left-arm spinners with a great deal of contempt.
