Jaiswal opens up on his batting approach during maiden ODI ton

Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) [India], December 6 (ANI): Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal expressed happiness after scoring his maiden ODI century in the third and final ODI of the series between India and South Africa in Visakhapatnam. Jaiswal said that he focused on balancing his innings--knowing when to attack and when to rotate strike.
Jaiswal, who scored 18 and 22 in the first and second ODIs of the series, respectively, despite getting good-looking stars, brought up his ton off 111 balls. He remained not out on 116 off 121 balls, having hit 12 fours and two sixes, helping India win the match for nine wickets and clinch the series 2-1.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Jaiswal said: "I really enjoyed it. I'm really grateful and blessed. (On his conversations with Rohit while batting) We have been chatting a lot about how we can play and how we can set the target and what tempo we can play. So, I'm trying to understand. I had starts in last two games but I couldn't convert. So, we have been speaking how we can convert this and how we balance this inning. I was just thinking how I can balance the inning. So, sometimes I need to be attacking and sometimes I was thinking, okay, maybe I'll take a single or I'll run the game. So, that was my plan and it was pretty good."
Jaiswal said he focused on controlling his thoughts, choosing the right shots and batting deep while attacking when needed. He shared that Virat Kohli immediately played positively when he came to the crease and gave him small targets to stay focused, which helped him toward his goal.
"I have to control my thoughts on where I can play, what shot I can play and how I can play as deep as possible. And with keeping that in my mind that if it requires, I need to go after the bowlers. Virat paaji, the minute he came, he started playing a lot of shots and we kept chatting as well. He kept giving me small targets that I need to focus on. So, it was helping me towards my goal as well. So, I really enjoyed it."
Coming to the match, India won the toss and put SA into bat first.
Proteas lost Ryan Rickelton for a duck and a 113-run stand between Quinton de Kock (106 in 89 balls, with eight fours and six sixes) and skipper Temba Bavuma (48 in 67 balls, with five fours) followed.
Quinton also had a 54-run stand with Matthew Breetzke (24 in 23 balls, with two sixes), and the Proteas stumbled to five wickets down for 199 runs, with Prasidh Krishna (4/66) causing some mayhem. Dewald Brevis (29 in 29 balls, with two fours and a six) and Marco Jansen (17 in 15 balls, with two fours) tried to counter-attack, but a fine spell from Kuldeep (4/41) sunk them to 270 all out in 47.5 overs from a solid position of 234/5.
India chased down the target in 39.5 overs, with Rohit (75 in 73 balls, with seven fours and three sixes) putting a 155-run stand with Yashasvi Jaiswal, who got his maiden ODI ton. Jaiswal, who ended with 116* in 121 balls, with 12 fours and three sixes, had put another century stand with Virat (65* in 45 balls, with six fours and three sixes) to end the series in a dominant fashion. (ANI)