Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal stated that he was focused on making his starts count because he had little opportunities in the ODI format. On Saturday, he led India to a nine-wicket victory over Afghanistan in Chennai by smashing a superb, undefeated century.
The 24-year-old, who replaced an injured Virat Kohli in the three-match ODI series, smashed an unbeaten 110 off 86 balls as India overcame a 219-run target in just 28.4 overs.
“I really enjoyed. Initially, I got some runs in powerplay, so I just wanted to keep going and play till the end,” PTI quoted Jaiswal as saying after the match.
“I just focus on my process, what is in my control and try to work hard as much as I can. And of course, there is always support from the support staff and they have been amazing to me. The communication is unreal. So I know what’s going on. I’ve been lucky, so I’m just trying to convert if I get the start. I have seen in sports and in cricket especially that when it is your day, make it count. So I try to do that.”
According to Jaiswal, he has realized how crucial it is to turn starts into significant scores.
“A lot of experience I had recently that I was trying, but things were not going my way. I was very determined today that I just need to keep my focus in and just keep trying to rotate the strikes. And if I get in, so I’ll just make it count.”
The young batter also acknowledged former captain Rohit Sharma’s contribution.
“Of course, Rohit bhaiya is always helpful. And I always ask questions, a lot of questions to him and try to implement in the game itself.”
“Today as well, when I was getting dot balls, so I was asking what should I do then. He was telling me, just try to rotate the strike and the intent should be there. So I was keeping my intent and rotating the strike. So that really helped me. And yeah, I always enjoy being with him, going and playing under him. Everything is like, it’s just amazing.”
Pacers Gurnoor Brar and Prasidh Krishna set the tone with a fierce opening spell, which India skipper Shubman Gill praised.
“The first spell bowled by Gurnoor and Prasidh was outstanding to see. That kind of pace in that weather, you don’t always see but they were amazing. I did want to give them an extra over, but they were pretty exhausted,” said Gill, who was adjudged the Player of the series for scoring 239 runs.
Gill stated that India had accomplished a number of goals throughout the series, especially in terms of strengthening their middle-overs strategy with both bat and ball.
“A lot of the boxes were ticked in this series. We spoke about keeping the intensity in the middle overs and creating opportunities with the ball. As batters, we also discussed how we could keep pushing for extra runs,” he said.
Looking ahead to the tour of England, Gill said, “Going to England, the conditions will be a little closer to what we will get in South Africa. We hope to have everyone fit and available. It should be a good contest.”
Player of the Match Krishna, who ended with five wickets, attributed his performance to careful preparation and fierce rivalry among the bowling group.
“I think it’s just that trying to hit the lengths as a team, whatever we discuss, whatever the tactic is. We just sit and think about the game and what’s needed, and it’s like homework for me. It’s really helpful when you have really good bowlers alongside. You learn from each other when you have good competition in the nets. You push each other to do better,” said the lanky pacer, who is part of the Gujarat Titans set-up.
Hashmatullah Shahidi, the captain of Afghanistan, lamented the loss of early wickets.
“I think today, in the first ten overs they bowled well but we lost wickets that put us under pressure. And me and Azmat had a good partnerships but again we lost back to back wickets and that’s why we fell short,” he said.
Shahidi’s first ODI century of 102 off 131 balls had kept the Afghanistan innings together.
“After a long time I scored my first 100. I feel good and Inshallah I will try my best to do it again and again for my country. It was so hot and I was cramping. But I am feeling good now.”
“I think we have talented guys, but playing India in India is tough. We were not good. But we will learn from that.”
“Moving forward, I think we are a quality side but we have been away from ODI cricket. Last we played Bangladesh eight months ago. We play Ireland next. We’ll work on where we were lacking.”
