Media365
MUMBAI: Fresh off smashing his maiden ODI century against South Africa in the third and final ODI at Visakhapatnam on Saturday, India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal will turn out for Mumbai in the knockouts of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy (SMAT), which will be held from Dec 9 to 18 in Pune.“He spoke to me this afternoon and informed me that he’s available to play for Mumbai in the SMAT knockouts. He will join the team on Dec 11,” Mumbai chief selector Sanjay Patil told TOI on Sunday.
Jaiswal will replace young opener Ayush Mhatre, who will lead the India Under-19 team in the U-19 Asia Cup in Dubai later this month, in what will be the only change in Mumbai’s squad for the SMAT knock-outs, Patil confirmed. Mhatre had cracked two hundreds in the league stage of the SMAT and will leave for the India Under-19 camp after turning out for Mumbai in their final league game, against Odisha in Lucknow on Monday.With the tournament’s knockout stage set to be played in the ‘Super 4’ format, Mumbai will play their knock-out matches on December 12, 14 and 16. The final of the event will be played on December 18. The team will leave for Pune on December 10. TOI had reported about Rohit Sharma wanting to turn out for Mumbai in the SMAT knock-outs, but the former India captain is yet to confirm to the MCA his availability for the tournament. Mumbai qualified for the knock-outs on Saturday when they beat Chhattisgarh to secure their fifth win in six matches. The defending champions are currently topping Elite Group A with 20 points.‘Yashasvi will have to manage tough periods’Meanwhile, former first-class cricketer-turned-coach Zubin Bharucha, who works closely with Jaiswal on his game, felt that the young left-hander will have to “learn to manage the tough periods in his career.”Before he bounced back with a brilliant century at Vizag, Jaiswal endured an ordinary time against the touring South Africans, getting out for 12, 0, 58 and 13 in the two-Test series at Kolkata and Guwahati, and then 18 and 22 in the first two ODIs of the series at Ranchi and Raipur, as he succumbed repeatedly to the Proteas’ left-arm quicks Marco Jansen and Nandre Burger.“It was a tough period, and (it was) important to play ugly and still get the job done. However, this issue (of perishing to left-arm pacers) is going to be around for Yashasvi’s whole career. It was the same for every left-hand bat — (Brian) Lara vs (Wasim) Akram, (Ben) Stokes vs (Mitchell) Starc, (Graeme) Smith vs Zaheer (Khan) and on and on it goes.“He will be no different. He just has to learn how to manage it. What is important is he learns how to manage the tough periods when the runs don’t come fluently, and you have to fight for it,” Bharucha, who also coaches India players like Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag and Vaibhav Suryavanshi, told TOI.
