"They've been brought up on watching Rohit or watching Virat "- Nasser Hussain praises young Indian batters coming through the ranks
Former England captain Nasser Hussain credited the predecessors of Indian batting for the younger generation of batters in each era. They look like they belong to international cricket immediately after their debut.
Hussain felt a positive cascading effect among young Indian batters, thanks to the country producing several greats in each era. Five of the top 11 leading run-scorers in ODIs are Indian batters. The pattern is also similar in the red-ball format, with the nation boasting two of the top four leading run-getters.
Speaking on the ICC Review, Nasser Hussain felt that the young batters from India derive their technical gifts from watching the likes of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, similar to the latter following Sachin Tendulkar's footsteps and so on.
"I've watched so many young Indian batters come in and I look at them and think, technically they look very gifted because they've been brought up on watching Rohit or watching Virat or watching before that, you know, Virat's watched Sachin (Tendulkar) and Sachin's watched Sunil (Gavaskar)," Hussain said.
Sachin Tendulkar is the all-time leading run-scorer in Tests and ODIs with over 34,000 runs and the all-time leader in centuries. The Master blaster followed in the footsteps of another great Mumbai batter Sunil Gavaskar, the first cricketer to score 10,000 Test runs.
On similar lines, Virat Kohli carried forward the legacy of great Indian batters during this era, with over 25,000 international runs and an incredible 76 centuries under his belt across formats.
"He looks to have the technique and he looks to have that mindset" - Nasser Hussain on Yashasvi Jaiswal
Nasser Hussain reserved high praise for young Indian sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal's technique and mentality after the 21-year-old took the world by storm on his Test debut. Jaiswal scored a sensational 171 in his maiden international innings against the West Indies in Dominica last month.
The southpaw continued his impressive form throughout the series and finished with 266 runs at an average of 88.66 in the two matches.
"He looks to have the technique and he looks to have that mindset. Like most young Indian players and batters in particular, most of them come in and have immediate success. And that is a good sign for first-class cricket, that they are being produced, not just the IPL," Hussain said.
The former England captain added that his fellow commentators hold Jaiswal in high record thanks to his magnificent first-class record and heroics in the recent IPL season.
"From what I've seen...he's made a fantastic start. You speak to people who have seen him in the IPL, again I've been working with Ricky (Ponting) and Dinesh (Karthik) came over, and you ask questions, and they all go, yeah, this lad can play," Nasser Hussain added.
Jaiswal has been in ruthless form in domestic cricket since his debut, averaging 81.19 in 17 first-class games and 53.96 in 32 List-A matches.
The Mumbai batter carried his excellent form into the 2023 IPL season for the Rajasthan Royals, scoring 625 runs at an average of 48.08 and a strike rate of 163.61.