BGT 2024-25: Cheteshwar Pujara pinpoints Yashasvi Jaiswal’s batting loopholes; urges to follow KL Rahul’s template

Yashasvi Jaiswal might have made heads turn with his scintillating hundred in Perth against Australia, but the Indian opener has been inconsistent thereafter in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). Playing for the first time on Australian soil, Jaiswal started with a duck in the first innings at the Optus Stadium in Perth before garnering applause with his 161 in the second innings, en route to India’s 295-run win.

However, since then, the southpaw didn’t perform as expected with scores of 0, 24, 4 and 4 not out. Jaiswal’s major weakness has been in the deliveries which were pitches up. Rather than playing the waiting game against the moving new ball, the left-hander seemed to be a hurry to score quick runs as he looked shaky, especially while playing the deliveries that were pitched up.

Former India cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara took a note of what’s going wrong with Jaiswal and cited Virender Sehwag’s examples on how to play as an opener in Test cricket.

“He needs to give himself a bit more time, the way he is playing, he is trying to rush things, he is trying to play shots a bit more. He should only play shots if he is quite sure about it, especially in the first 5-10 overs because it seems that he is in a hurry to score runs, he wants a quick start, and he wants to score those first 15-20 runs quickly,” Pujara told Star Sports on Jaiswal.

Pujara emphasised on the art of playing deliveries on merit and not rush things. “When you are an opener in Test Cricket then you don’t go out searching for the ball, you play the deliveries on merit. Even if you are an aggressive player, even Virender Sehwag was an aggressive player but he used play shots only when the ball was pitched in his zone.

“There are a lot of aggressive batters and openers in Test Cricket today but they play the shots when the ball is pitched in the hitting zone, but here it looks like Yashasvi is trying to convert the shots, he is trying to drive the deliveries which are not pitched up,” added Pujara, who last played for India in 2023.

How can Yashavi Jaiswal counter Australia?

With two more games to go in this series, India need to win in Melbourne and Sydney to stake a claim in the race for the final of World Test Championship (WTC) which is to be played next year at Lord’s. The India vs Australia series is currently locked at 1-1 after three games.

Asked on how can Jaiswal counter the Australian bowlers, Pujara urged the youngster to stay calm. In fact, with the bouncy pitches on offer in Melbourne, one needs to give the team a strong start in the middle and lay a platform for others to build on that foundation.

“He needs to be a bit calm, he needs to spend a bit more time, if he will show some confidence on his defence then that’s when he’ll come across some shot playing deliveries because the moment when you show some respect to the bowlers and you defend well then they’ll look forward to getting a wicket and gradually they’ll starting pitching the ball a bit up and that’s when you can play those drives.

“They way KL Rahul is playing, the way he is playing those drives on the overpitched deliveries, Yashasvi also needs to do the same,” added Pujara.