India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is equipped to “play in any conditions” but will need to make some mental adjustments for the upcoming tour of Australia, the legendary Brian Lara said in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Jaiswal has established himself as a vital cog in the Test side with 929 runs in only eight matches this year at 66.35, his two centuries and six fifties putting him as the leading run-scorer for India in 2024.
“He has got the ability to play in any conditions. I saw him in the Caribbean. Obviously, the pitches in Australia are slightly different, but if you take that sort of strength that you have, you’re going to play good cricket in any conditions.”
“I expect to see him do well,” Lara told the media during the launch of the International Masters League.
The West Indies great said Jaiswal will need to make some mental adjustments to continue his success Down Under.
“I think the adjustment is upstairs,” said Lara, pointing towards his head when asked if the Indian opener will have to make any adjustments.
“The adjustment is your ability to back your talent in whatever conditions. I say this with a pinch of salt because conditions in India have changed.
“With the IPL you’ve got international players coming. You are feeding your players a different level of competition, which is great, so I don’t think there’s much that he has to do technically,” he added.
“I just think, mentally, travelling away from home, playing against Australia on their shores is a different beast. But I believe that the Indian team that I’ve seen going to Australia over the last couple of occasions, are very capable of winning,” he said.
Lara picked Jaiswal and another southpaw Abhishek Sharma as the “two most exciting Indian batters” right now.
“Jaiswal and Abhishek Sharma. First of all, they’re left-handers. They’re very young. They play the game in a style, very attacking and very stylish,” he said.
“Of course the relationship I have had with them over the last couple of years has been very special. It’s great to see them go from strength to strength,” he added.
Lara said having a “good plan” will be crucial for India’s success in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will comprise five Tests for the first time.
“You have got to have a plan. And your plan has to be something that when it comes to fruition, you get the success,” he said.
“When you’re coming up against Australia, you’ve got to have a damn good plan, and you’ve got to be able to soak in pressure because they’re going to apply a lot of pressure.”
“From an Indian scenario, they’ve got to play good cricket. They’ve got to believe in themselves and they’ve got to play each session at a time. They can’t think way beyond that,” he added.
While the former West Indies captain praised India’s aggressive approach to force a result in the rain-hit Kanpur Test against Bangladesh to try and earn World Test Championship points, Lara said such an outcome is not possible every time.
“(It was) not just (about) the points. It’s a situation where India knows that they have the advantage in terms of being the better playing team against Bangladesh, and they’ve got to put themselves,” he said.
“They’ve got to give themselves the opportunity. I love the way that they went about it in such a short space of time to put Bangladesh under pressure. The performance by India with the bat was always to put Bangladesh under pressure.”
“Test cricket is about attrition. Not every single day you’re going to have 2-3 days washed out. I want to see a lot of games going into the fourth and the fifth day. I want to see batters holding on, battling if they have to battle. Bowlers being as disciplined as possible.”
“That Test match was a Test match where India felt that they have an opportunity to win. But it’s not going to happen that way all the time,” said Lara.
