Do not overhype achievements, says Gambhir after Jaiswal double ton

NEW DELHI: Former India opener

Gautam Gambhir

on Saturday congratulated

Yashasvi Jaiswal

for scoring his maiden double ton in Vizag but also cautioned against over-hyping the achievement of the youngster.
Pointing out the fact that it puts added pressure of expectations, Gambhir told everyone let the young batter play his natural game.
On the second day of the second Test against England, Jaiswal notched up his maiden Test double hundred to become the third-youngest Indian to achieve the feat in his nascent-but-remarkable career.

Playing only his sixth Test, the 22-year-old's sensational knock of 209 off 290 balls single-handedly powered India to 396 all out in 112 overs on the second day of the match.

Jaiswal's accomplishment marked him as the first Indian left-hander since Gambhir to score a double hundred in the traditional format. Gambhir achieved the feat in 2008 against Australia.
"I want to congratulate the youngster for his achievement but, more importantly, I want to tell everyone that let the young man play. We have seen in the past that in India we have a habit, especially the media, to overhype their achievements and give them tags and make them look like heroes," Gambhir told PTI during an interaction.

"The pressure of expectation gets the better of them and the players are not able to play their natural game. Let him grow and enjoy his cricket," added Gambhir.
While Jaiswal has excelled with the bat so far in the Test series, Shubman Gill and middle-order batter Shreyas Iyer have struggled for runs, and the 42-year-old cricketer-turned-politician backed the under-performing players, saying they should be given more time.
Both Gill and Iyer made promising starts in the second Test but failed to convert them into substantial totals. Gill, who scored 34 in the first innings in Visakhapatnam, has not scored a of half-century in his last nine Test innings, while Iyer too has been off-colour.
"We should give them time as they are quality players, and they have shown it in the past with their performance. That is why they are playing for India," Gambhir said.

It must be mentioned that Iyer is the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, a franchise where the former India opener has comeback as the Mentor for the next edition of Indian Premier League.
(With inputs from PTI)