Tejasvi Jaiswal, elder brother of star India batter Yashasvi Jaiswal, was in the news recently, having scored his maiden First-Class half-century in the 4th round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season. A southpaw, just like his brother, Tejasvi scored 82 runs with the bat in his only innings and picked a wicket in the Ranji game for Tripura against Baroda at Agartala. While Yashasvi is enjoying life as an all-format India cricketer, having embarked on his first Test tour of Australia, Tejasvi once had to quit cricket so that his brother could achieve his dreams.
In a recent interview, Tejasvi revealed that both him and Yashasvi had moved to Mumbai to pursue their dreams, but only one could afford to pursue the sport.
“I also wanted to play cricket, but the financial situation of our family was not good. Yashasvi was doing well… So by the end of 2013, I quit Mumbai and cricket and moved to Delhi, where a relative runs a shop,” Tejasvi told The Indian Express.
Tejasvi also recalled being accused of age fraud, and the accusations made his decision to quit cricket at that time much easier as he didn’t want to jeopardise Yashasvi’s chances.
“I played one game in the Harris Shield and picked up seven wickets. Then people started saying that I had an age-verification issue. I was benched for a year and a half. Yashasvi was doing extremely well and I didn’t want his prospects to be affected because of me. Anyway, Mumbai was too expensive for both of us. It was getting difficult for both of us to have two meals a day. At that point Jwala sir, Yashasvi’s coach, wasn’t in the picture yet,” he added.
Tejasvi, now 27, had left Mumbai at the age of 17 to work as a salesman. With the help of his earnings, Tejasvi also got his two sisters married, and would also send pocket money to Jaiswal in Mumbai.
“By 2021, my sisters got married and Yashasvi got the IPL contract. Life eased for us after that,” Tejasvi insisted.
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