Playing cricket in the day. Selling Panipuris in the evening.
By Dee03 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=83259453
Yashasvi Jaiswal has a story for the ages. Originally from U.P., he came to Mumbai with dreams to play for India one day.
In Mumbai, he used to visit a local ground Azad Maidan and play practice matches over there. With no local support in Mumbai and also with limited financial resources, Yashasvi had to make ends meet by selling panipuris in the streets of Mumbai.
By Souvik.arko - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=14648300
He says, “During those times, I didn't get much support from my family on the monetary front. So I used to sell panipuris in the evening and earn some money. It was an embarrassing situation for me when the players with whom I used to play would come to the shop I worked in. I used to feel so bad because I would score a century in the morning and in the evening, I used to sell panipuris. But it didn't matter whether if it was a small job, as it was important for me. Yet my only focus was on cricket.”
Through his determination and hard work, Yashasvi rose through the ranks and was included in the India U-19 World Cup squad for the event in South Africa.
He finished the tournament as the top run-scorer and was rightly awarded the player of the series trophy. Yashasvi also top-scored in the final, but India lost the final to Bangladesh.
Something tells us that this isn’t the first time we will hear about this star in the making. We salute you're never say die spirit Yashasvi and can’t wait to see you light up the international cricket circuit in the years to come!
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