Yashasvi Jaiswal scored his maiden ODI century on Saturday which went a long way in helping India defeat South Africa by 9 wickets in the 3rd and final match of the 50-over series. With the series tied at 1-1 heading into Saturday’s match, Jaiswal with ample support from Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, helped India clinch the series 2-1 in Vizag.
With Jaiswal building crucial partnerships with both Rohit and Kohli in the middle, the 23-year-old opened up about the chats he had with the stalwarts in the middle as India looked to overhaul the 271-run target set by the Proteas.
“Virat paaji, the minute he came, he started playing a lot of shots and we kept chatting as well. He kept giving me small targets that I need to focus on. So, it was helping me towards my goal as well. So, I really enjoyed it,” he said after receiving his player of the match trophy.
“We have been chatting a lot about how we can play and how we can set the target and what tempo we can play. So, I’m trying to understand. I had starts in last two games but I couldn’t convert. So, we have been speaking how we can convert this and how we balance this inning. I was just thinking how I can balance the inning. So, sometimes I need to be attacking and sometimes I was thinking, okay, maybe I’ll take a single or I’ll run the game. So, that was my plan and it was pretty good,” he added while opening about his chats with Rohit.
When India started the run chase, Jaiswal looked to be pretty cautious in the early goings, finally reverting to his natural attacking game after crossing his half century. He talked about his mindset after the match, saying he had to control his thoughts and think about how to go deep.
“I have to control my thoughts on where I can play, what shot I can play and how I can play as deep as possible. And with keeping that in my mind that if it requires, I need to go after the bowlers,” he said.