The team management is trying to restore Yashasvi Jaiswal’s confidence after the opener missed four catches in the opening Test match against England at Headingley in Leeds, according to Ryan ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach. Ten Doeschate acknowledged that the child’s hands are really uncomfortable, but he also stated that Team India is trying to have more depth in the catching position.
In the first Test match in Leeds, England defeated India by a margin of five wickets. The visitors struggled in the bowling and batting departments, but also performed terribly in the field, missing a number of catches, some of which were rather easy. One of the primary offenders, Jaiswal even benched Player of the Match Ben Duckett on the fifth day of the first Test.
Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy fielded at fourth slip and gully, respectively, during the Monday, June 30 practice session. Jaiswal’s performance in the Headingley Test was noteworthy. Ten Doeschate clarified the shift in field positions during a press conference on Monday, saying (via IANS):
“Look, I think we always want depth in the catching department. In England, you’re always going to have four catchers at some stage in the game. Yashasvi has been a very good catcher for us. We want to manage his confidence. There’s also an argument for the short leg being a very important position, particularly if we are going to play two spinners.”
Ten Doeschate
“We want to pick more guys in that position. So I think the more versatile we are as a fielding unit, the more guys can do more jobs. Maybe just give Yashasvi a break from catching in the gully for a little while. His hands are quite sore. We want to get his confidence back up.”
Ten Doeschate
Looks like Sai Sudharsan will replace Yashasvi Jaiswal in the slips. YBJ doing silly point/short leg drills while Sai trains with rest of the slip fielders. pic.twitter.com/kYfvDMDYX7
— Sahil Malhotra (@Sahil_Malhotra1) June 30, 2025Although Yashasvi Jaiswal was having a bad time in the field during the first Test against England, he was good with a bat. In the first innings, the left handed batsman had 101 runs to his name off 159 balls. He scored 16 fours and a six, before falling to Ben Stokes being bowled.
Yashasvi Jaiswal eyes historic milestone in Birmingham Test against England
Yashasvi Jaiswal (23) has got off to a flying start of his Test career. He has a score of 1903 runs in 38 innings at an average of 52.86 strikes with five centuries and 10 half-centuries in 20 Tests. Should he make his 2,000 runs faster by scoring 97 runs in the second Test, the left-hander will surpass Sunil Gavaskar to hold the fastest Indian achievement in reaching 2,000 runs in Test. It took Gavaskar 23 encounters to reach the milestone.
🚨 YASHASVI JAISWAL WILL PLAY FOR MUMBAI 🚨
– MCA has approved his withdrawal of NOC. [Devendra Pandey From Express Sports] pic.twitter.com/z69lJOzse2
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) June 30, 2025In their 25th match, Rahul Dravid and Virender Sehwag scored more over 2,000 Test runs. It appears that Jaiswal will surpass these two Indian titans as well. The young player has played 39 games in his first-class career, scoring 3,927 runs at an average of 58.61.
