Even before Axar Patel pouched the top-edged pull from Yashasvi Jaiswal at mid-off, the bowler Khaleel Ahmed pointed his finger at his Delhi Capitals captain Rishabh Pant. It seemed as if it was a plan that had come off. Two features stood out: a left-arm seamer and miscued pull off a short rising ball.
Though the left-handed opener has mustered 320 runs with an impressive strike rate of 157.64 this IPL, it is his struggle against the left-arm seamers and the miscued attempts to pull back-of-the-length deliveries that would worry the Indian team, heading into the T20 world cup.
Jaiswal, 22, has been hot and cold in this season for the Royals. Sample this: in 11 IPL knocks this year, the Rajasthan Royals opener has been dismissed by the left-arm quicks five times out of which three were attempted pull shots.
In the Royals tournament opener against Lucknow Super Giants, it was the lefty Mohsin Khan, who tested Jaiswal with a back-of-a-length short rising ball and he ended up ballooning it straight to Krunal Pandya at mid-on. Against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), it was Reece Topley, whose extra bounce did the trick for Jaiswal as another mistimed pull was caught by Glenn Maxwell at mid-off.
Against Mumbai Indians, he became the debut IPL scalp for the 17-year-old left-handed Kwena Maphaka. The young South African bowled it full and Jaiswal tried to loft it over cover but ended up chipping it straight to Tim David at cover. T Natarajan is another left-arm quick, who has had Jaiswal’s number this season.
If the short-pitch ploy had worked against Jaiswal, Punjab Kings’s Kagiso Rabada and Marcus Stoinis dismissed him by serving wide from back of the length. On both occasions, Jaiswal tried to charge down the ground and was caught at third man and sweeper cover, respectively.
Hyderabad: Rajasthan Royals batter Yashasvi Jaiswal plays a shot during the IPL 2024 T20 cricket match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Uppal, in Hyderabad, Thursday, May 2, 2024. (PTI Photo) (PTI05_02_2024_000321A)
“Yashasvi Jaiswal got out to a left-arm pacer once again. He hasn’t got out to a short ball for the first time. He has been dismissed many times and got out once more. It was an almost similar shot and got caught in front of the wickets,” former India opener Aakash Chopra has said on his YouTube channel.
In all those dismissals, one can see that he is trying too hard to clear the ropes. The balls that climb on him, he has been going hard, unable to get into the right positions.
India pacer Mohammed Shami reckons Jaiswal is rushing to play shots and that is affecting his ‘shape’.
“He looked out of shape while playing the shot (pull),” Shami said about Jaiswal on his YouTube channel. Shami also talked about how Jaiswal is rushing a touch, too eager to hit hard.
“He seemed to be in a rush,” Shami said while analysing the Delhi Capitals vs Rajasthan Royals match. “He got out to a shot which was not required. It was not needed. He is in good touch and has even scored a century.”
The old flaws are back
Earlier this year after the conclusion of the five-match Test series against England, Zubin Bharucha, Rajasthan Royals’ high-performance director, pointed out a couple of flaws in Yashasvi Jaiswal’s batting that he spotted after the youngster’s first season for the Royals.
The first problem was Jaiswal’s inability to play shots on the on-side. And so far now, in this season, the Jaiswal is again struggling to score runs at on-side. Even during his unbeaten 104 against Mumbai Indians, 62 per cent of runs were scored on the off-side.
The other technical aspects took a lot longer to improve and as per Bharucha, it took eighteen months to be precise getting him to bend his elbow at the point of impact. Because of that, he couldn’t generate enough power.
Not just Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli’s past failures against left-arm seamers offers an opening for the opposition teams to field two of the kind in their playing XI. (File)
“Yash was bending his elbow at the point of impact. When you bend your elbow at the point of impact, you do not generate power. To solve that problem, it took us 18 months. We have ensured that the elbow is not bent at the point of impact and by using different bats and balls,” Bharucha had told this newspaper.
Jaiswal had overcome these technical issues with his grind at Talegaon, the training base of Rajasthan Royals. However, now with the T20 World Cup starting, a week after the IPL final, the youngster won’t have much time to figure out his shortcomings. And with Rajasthan Royals set to play the playoffs, Jaiswal would also be among those who will reach the US a bit later than the likes of Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Hardik Pandya, Jasprit Bumrah and Suryakumar Yadav.
Jaiswal’s struggle against the left-arm seamers will undoubtedly make the opponents field at least two left-arm quicks against India. Not just Jaiswal, the left-arm seamers will target Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. There is a high chance that on June 9, Pakistan will start with Shaheen Shah Afridi and Mohammad Amir in New York, against India’s top three.
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