Yashasvi should continue playing instinctively, he’s given the role of playing with freedom: Abhishek Nayar

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 26

Former India all-rounder Abhishek Nayar believes Yashasvi Jaiswal should continue to play instinctively in the ongoing T20I series against Australia as he feels the left-handed opener has been given the role of playing with freedom.

In the opening T20I at Visakhapatnam, Jaiswal smashed 21 off just eight balls, hitting two fours and as many sixes at a strike-rate of 262.5, before falling to Matt Short. In his T20I career of nine games since his debut in August this year, Jaiswal has made 253 runs at a strike-rate of 166.44.

“See, this is his strength. He’s not a player who takes too much time to settle in. I think he’s been given the role to play with freedom. He plays in the same way for Mumbai in domestic cricket and Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. If you are a player who is instinctively aggressive, then you should remain that way,” said Nayar on JioCinema.

In the same match, stand-in captain Suryakumar Yadav scored a quickfire 42-ball 80, while wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan smashed a 39-ball 58 and Rinku Singh finished off the chase with an unbeaten 22 off 14 balls for India to reach their target of 209, their highest-ever chase in the format.

“He played a captain’s knock in the 1st T20I. He played to his strengths and did not make any change to his approach. The pressure of captaincy was visible when India were bowling, but he was really calm when he came to bat. He should continue maintaining the same approach,” said former India leg-spinner Amit Mishra.

He also felt India should stick to the playing eleven they fielded in Visakhapatnam for the second game in Thiruvananthapuram. “In the 1st T20I, all the players were playing after a long time, so I think they should be given one more match before the management thinks about making any change in the XI. Also, there was nothing for the spinners in the pitch in Visakhapatnam. They should continue playing the winning XI.”