Having owned the spotlight of the cricketing fraternity after smashing his maiden IPL century last night against the Mumbai Indians, 21-year-old Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s childhood days were ones dominated with stories of immense struggle.
Advertisement
With a burning desire to follow his passion and make a mark for himself at the highest level on a Cricket field, Jaiswal, at the age of mere 11, had left his hometown in Uttar Pradesh’s Bhadohi district and landed in Mumbai all alone.
One of his uncle, Santosh, did have a house in Worli (Central Mumbai), but it was not big enough for another person to stay, and the 11-year-old did not want to be a burden for anyone either.
The kid then started working at a dairy store near the city’s famous Azad Maidan, where he started sleeping during the night after playing Cricket for almost the entire day. One fine day however, he was thrown out of the store with his luggage as he was not working diligently in the shop.
Why did Yashasvi Jaiswal sell Pani Puri After Moving to Mumbai?
Thereafter, via the contact of his Worli uncle, Jaiswal was given a refuge by the groundsmen at the Muslim United Club’s tent at the Azad Maidan ground.
While he did have a roof above his head in this very tent for the next three years, life started testing his patience in myriad ways.
His father did send him some paltry sum of money, but it was never enough. Also, no way he could let his family know about the dire circumstances he was living inside the tent each day, else they would call him back home.
But, Cricket had to live inside of him, and he had to earn for himself. Jaiswal started working for a food vendor, and began selling Pani Puris during the Ram Leela at the Azad Maidan. Despite this, he had to force himself to sleep most of the nights, as the groundsmen with whom he shared the tent would fight and quarrel with each other, thereby refusing to cook at times as a result.
“I really don’t like the story” – Yashasvi’s childhood coach Jwala Singh
Jaiswal’s Santacruz-based coach Jwala Singh, had ultimately spotted the talent possessed by the teenager and decided to train and provide him a place to stay.
While there was no looking back for Jaiswal with respect to his Cricketing career since then, Jwala is not happy with the Pani Puri story being run in the media, which provides an emotional angle to the former’s journey so far.
“I really don’t like the story (selling panipuri). He is playing cricket because of hard work. Many sellers set up their stalls near the Azad Maidan. Sometimes when he would get free in the evenings, he used to help them a bit. He did not set up a stall himself. It is not that he sold panipuris and went on to play for India,” remarked Jwala during an interaction with PTI, after Jaiswal hit his maiden IPL century.
Yashasvi Jaiswal Family Background
Needless to say, Jaiswal did not hail from a well-to-do family. His father Bhupendra Kumar Jaiswal is the owner of a small hardware shop, while mother Kanchan Jaiswal and is a homemaker.
Bhupendra had no other option but to support his son’s dream of becoming a cricketer, as he was already finding it pretty challenging to feed the family. In fact, the former even motivated him to learn to stay alone, if he had to achieve something big in life.
Youngest in the family, Yashasvi was raised along with his two sisters and a brother. His brother Tejaswi also plays Cricket in Delhi, while one of the sisters is married and the other employed in a school (in Uttar Pradesh) as a teacher.
