A photo showing cricketer Yashasvi Jaiswal at a food stall is being widely shared on social media, the day he became the highest individual scorer during the 2023 Indian Premier League.
The claim: The photo is being shared to claim that Jaiswal, who was a pani puri (an Indian street snack) vendor, was discovered by Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson in 2020 while the latter was eating at his stall.
(Archives of more claims on social media can be seen here, here and here.)
Is it true?: No. The viral photo dates back to 2018, when Yashasvi Jaiswal was already playing as an Under-19 cricketer.
Speaking to The Quint in June 2018, Jaiswal told us that he was first discovered by his current coach Jwala Singh in Mumbai.
Singh, too, said that he had first seen Jaiswal batting against A-list bowlers in 2013.
How did we find out?: Using relevant keywords, we looked for news reports about Jaiswal's background.
This took us to a 2018 photo story by Hindustan Times, which carried a similar photo as seen in the claim.
It was shared with a caption which mentioned that Jaiswal was sharing a "light moment with his long-time friend Raju Bhai" at Mumbai's Azad Maidan ground.
The photo was also available on the stock image website Getty Images which was shared in 2018. This photo was credited to Hindustan Times.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's profile: Speaking to The Quint in 2018 when he was first selected for under-19 cricket, Jaiswal said that had come to Mumbai and first played for a club called Muslim United Cricket Club under one Imran.
He spoke about his struggles while living in poor conditions in Mumbai, adding that he worked as a pani puri vendor to make ends meet.
Jaiswal then said that his life changed when he met one Jwala sir.
Jwala Singh – Jaiswal's coach – told us that he saw Yashasvi batting well against A-division bowlers in 2013 and called Jaiswal to practice under him.
Was Jaiswal 'discovered' in 2020?: We looked for his career history on the Indian Premier League's website.
It said that Jaiswal had scored 400 runs during India's Under-17 World Cup in 2020 and was bought by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2020 edition of the IPL.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) tweeted about Jaiswal being an "inspirational" Under-19 cricketer in December 2019.
As per ESPN Cricinfo's profile on Jaiswal, he first debuted in the first class format in January 2019, whereas his debut in an A-List match was in September 2019.
The Quint has reached out to Yashasvi Jaiswal's coach Jwala Singh for his inputs and will update this article if and when we receive them.
Conclusion: IPL team Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson did not discover cricketer Yashasvi Jaiswal while selling pani puri in 2020.
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