“He has talent,” Rohit said of Jaiswal. “We were aware of that. He has shown us over the last few years that he is ready for this big stage. Came in and batted intelligently, showed a lot of patience, and the temperament was also tested – at any level ( “It didn’t seem like he was panicking or going off his plans, which was nice to see.”
Rohit, who has the experience of scoring a century in his Test debut against West Indies a decade ago, said that all he told Jaiswal during their partnership was that he was at Test level.
“In between, it was just about communicating, to let him know ‘You’re right here.’ That’s the most important thing, because when you are playing your first Test match, you keep asking yourself whether you belong here or not, but from the other side my job was just to tell him, ‘You have done it’. All the hard yards, it’s about enjoying your time in between. Don’t worry about the results, just enjoy your time, and if you do that the results will come.”
Mhambrey said of Jaiswal’s innings, “The way he batted was brilliant. It was a slow wicket and as the game progressed, it was not easy to find strokes.” If you look at the way he has batted before, he is the kind of guy who likes to move forward in the game, likes to play his strokes. But the way he applied himself on that wicket was great to watch. This is what you need at the international level, so that you can adapt to different conditions and situations and the team also expected the same. He played a role for the team, so it’s definitely very encouraging and positive to see. This performance will give him a lot of confidence and he will perform well in future.”
“I was just telling them that maybe we have about one over and then we are announcing,” Rohit said. “I just wanted Ishan to get off the mark, because he had probably played 15-20 balls without hitting the mark, so I wanted to tell him, get your first run in Test cricket and then we have to declare the innings.
“I can understand, playing your first Test match, you get a lot of nerves, and I can see, he was sitting in the dressing room the whole (second) day, wanting to go out to bat, so I understand the feeling. , but I was just telling him that we probably have one or two overs and then we’re going to announce.”
“The results speak for themselves,” Rohit said of the two spinners. “Both these guys have been doing this for us for a while. They know what is expected of them. What we need to do, There is not much to tell them about it. It is just about going to them and giving them the freedom to go and express, because that is when they are performing their best for the team.
“When you have the kind of experience that these guys have, it’s always a luxury to bowl on these kind of pitches, but yes, you have to come out and pitch it in the area you want, And the rest has to be made of the pitch. Both Ashwin and Jadeja were brilliant in the game, especially Ashwin. To come out and bowl like that shows his class.”
Mhambrey did not hesitate to call Ashwin “one of India’s greatest match-winners”.
“He’s been one of India’s greatest match-winners, he’s right up there,” Mhambrey said. “The way he has won us so many matches cannot be praised enough. He has been performing like this for so many years, I cannot explain it in words.”