Tejasvi making up for lost time with support from younger brother Yashasvi

For Tejasvi Jaiswal, elder brother of Yashasvi Jaiswal, cricket was a dream interrupted by reality. In 2012, when the Jaiswal brothers moved from Uttar Pradesh to Mumbai to pursue the sport, it felt like the beginning of a shared journey. But life pushed Tejasvi away from the cricket field long before he was ready to let go of it.

By the end of 2013, with the family struggling financially, he quit cricket and shifted to New Delhi to work as a salesman.

“Even when I was working, my mind wasn’t really in it. After a few days, I settled into it because it was a compulsion — our necessity. Still, there was always this hope that when Yashasvi makes it big, I’ll start playing cricket again. And I used to tell my brother the same. He then supported me a lot (after establishing himself). It’s because of him that I’m able to play today. He is everything for me” said the 28-year-old after Tripura’s stunning Super Over win against Karnataka in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium B-Ground here on Monday.

It was Yashasvi who encouraged him to make the move to Tripura. In 2021, after around seven years away from cricket, he left his job in New Delhi to train and start playing for the northeastern state.

The left-handed batter scored his maiden T20 fifty (51, 37b, 1×4, 4×6) against Uttarakhand on the very same day his younger brother registered his maiden ODI century against South Africa in Visakhapatnam. When the brothers spoke over the phone, Yashasvi’s message to him was simple: “Enjoy the opportunity.”

“I learn from him (Yashasvi), of course. He teaches me how to bat, and I like that. He has a great mindset. He says, ‘No matter what happens, never let yourself down.’ So, I think the same way, too,” he said.

Adding that he “has no words to express how proud he is” of his brother today, Tejasvi explained that his stepping away from cricket was “not a sacrifice,” but a “responsibility.”