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Rahul drew parallels between Jaiswal’s first taste of cricket on Australian soil and likened it to his first tour down under back during the 2014-15 tour.
Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul. (X)
Team India wicketkeeper KL Rahul revealed that he sees shades of himself when he looks at young Indian batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, who keeps consolidating his stock with every passing game.
The dashing southpaw led from the front with an incredible ton, guided by the experience of Rahul, who opened the innings alongise him at Perth in the absence of skipper Rohit Sharma, who was out on paternity leave.
Rahul reminisced over the time he made his first bow down under, as the Karnanatak batter had to overcome starts of 3 runs and 1 run in the first game at the MCG to notch up a ton in Sydney back during the 2014-15 tour.
“I saw a bit of myself in him how I was 10 years ago, opening the batting for the first time, lots of doubts, lot of nerves and you keep doubting your own game and a lot that happens in your head, and so all you can do is try and slow things down, try and take a few deep breaths,” Rahul reflected on his experience.
Rahul was accompanied by Tamil Nadu batter Murali Vijay across the crease when he made his debut on Aussie soil a decade ago, who passed on the crucial piece of advice, which he inturn conveyed to the up and coming starboy of Indian cricket.
“That’s what was passed on to me by my fellow opening partner (M Vijay), I just passed that on to him,” Rahul reflected.
Rahul acknowledged that the doubts could creep in at any time in a player’s character, however, he has asked the young southpaw to work towards stuff he has tried to practice over his career.
“I am not saying I don’t have all these thoughts, I do,” he continued.
“But having been there, I know what I need to do to get past those doubts and thoughts you have in your head. And so whatever I told Jaiswal was what I have myself practised,” the 32-year-old added.
Rahul also opined that once Yaiswal got past the 40-ball threshold, he grew into his own and his confidence was boosted as the 22-year-old went on to scale the triple-digit mark that helped India win the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
“Once he got past those first 30-40 balls, he started feeling more confident, he was seeing the ball really well and batted beautifully,” Rahul revealed.
