Cheteshwar Pujara admits Yashasvi Jaiswal’s century has put ‘slight pressure’ on Rohit Sharma

Yashasvi Jaiswal once again proved that he is not just a one-format cricketer for India. He scored a brilliant century in the third and final ODI match against Afghanistan as India National Cricket Team won the match by 9 wickets, sealing the series 3-0 on Saturday, at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai. The Southpaw remained unbeaten in the run chase.

Yashasvi Jaiswal was initially not part of the ODI squad and was added after Virat Kohli was ruled out of the series due to a hamstring tear. The 24-year-old batter featured in the second ODI match when Nitish Kumar Reddy was out due to a niggle. Jaiswal took the chance in the third ODI to put the selectors under pressure by scoring 110 runs.

Cheteshwar Pujara makes bold remark on Yashasvi Jaiswal

After his amazing knock of 110* which consisted of 14 fours and three sixes, Yashasvi Jaiswal put the question into the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) selectors’ minds of providing him a place in the England series as well. Now the question arises whether he will be on the flight to the UK or not.

Former India batter Cheteshwar Pujara, after watching his innings, has dropped a bold remark. The former batter, while discussing on JioHotstar, believes that with Yashasvi Jaiswal scoring a century, it will put pressure on Rohit Sharma, who played a valuable knock of 79 runs off 69 balls last night. Jaiswal and Rohit stitched a 170-run partnership for the first wicket and laid the foundation for the run chase.

No comparison between Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi- Cheteshwar Pujara

He said, “There was an expectation from him to score runs because the team management backed him by keeping him a part of the playing XI in this match. He proved why the team management showed confidence in him. He brought improvement in the shot he got out to in the previous match. His style looks different once he gets set,” the former India batter said.

“There is no comparison between Rohit Sharma and Yashasvi because Rohit also scored runs today (Saturday). However, any senior player feels the pressure, and he is creating slight pressure on Rohit Sharma. It’s healthy competition for the Indian team. Rohit and Virat (Kohli) are great players, and they aren’t compared with any young player, but this team is preparing replacements for the future,” he added.

Only big runs come from his bat- Piyush Chawla

Apart from Pujara, even former World Cup winner Piyush Chawla stated that the Southpaw learned from the previous mistake he made in the 2nd ODI. He said, “He needed to play such a knock because Shubman Gill himself went to No. 3 to give Yashasvi Jaiswal a chance to open.

“He got out while trying to cut in the previous match. Whenever he played the cut today, he rolled his wrists and kept the ball down. It shows his mentality that he had to score big runs,” he said.

“We have seen it many times earlier as well that once he gets set, only big runs come from his bat, and he gave an example of that once again. He knows the template to score a hundred. He placed a price tag on his wicket. He knew how important this knock was,” Chawla observed.