MUMBAI: Years ago, a South African teenager would accompany his father to India during the summers as a 'tourist'. From 2009 to 2013,
Keaton Jennings' father, Ray, was the coach of Royal Challengers Bangalore, a star-studded IPL team. Little would both have imagined that one day, the junior Jennings would return to the same land, but this time for a far more serious job, and that too for a different country.
The 24-year-old is tipped to open the batting along with England Captain Alastair Cook in the fourth Test at Wankhede and despite the pressures which come with the job, Jennings had his tongue firmly in cheek when he told reporters on Tuesday, “At the moment I'm feeling very comfortable and very English, despite my accent.”
Jennings, whose mother is English, was born in Johannesburg and went on to captain South Africa at Under-19 level. His father coached South Africa from 2004 to 2005.
Though he's done enough to earn the right to wear the England cap - he led the run-scoring charts in the 2016 County Championship with 1548 runs at 64.50 - Jennings will walk out to open the batting with skipper Alastair Cook this week only because England's latest discovery Haseeb Hameed has been ruled out due to a hand injury.
The odds are stacked against Jennings as England are 2-0 down and face a daunting task to save the series against a supremely confident Indian team. In any case, it isn't easy to start your career against a rampaging spin attack on a turning wicket. To make it worse, he's a left-hander (England now have too many of them), which will make Ravichandran Ashwin, the best off-spinner in the world in these conditions, lick his lips in anticipation.
For advice, though, the young turk didn't have to look far beyond. All that he had to do was dial Mauritius, where his father, who is more of a personal coach to him now, is currently holidaying. Ray Jennings knows a fair bit of what his son can confront in India in the next few days.
“There's pressure, but I have always been taught that pressure is a privilege, a sort of a thing my dad tried to infuse into me as a kid. I like to think that I bring positive energy and a smile to the group. I am generally quite a happy guy. But again, it's 2-0 down and gets into a tougher position. So, hopefully we can throw a few jibes and punches back,” Jennings said here on Tuesday.
The man is ready for a 'trial by spin'. “If I can play and come out with some sort of success, that would be humbling,” he said. Jennings revealed the special bond that he enjoys with his father. “I've got a really good relationship with my dad. We chatted a lot over the last week or so. One of his big tips was, 'drink lots of water,' and make sure it's from a closed bottle. He just told me to enjoy the Indian culture. Coming with him in 2009 and 2010 to the IPL, I was bit of a tourist and I really enjoyed it. So I'm glad to be back,” he said.
Jennings revealed how the latter's no-nonsense approach appealed to him as a budding cricketer. “I can't remember the last time I called him dad, to be honest. When I was nine or 10 years old, we were training at the nets. It was one of those days when I had decided not to listen to him. He threw me a ball, I got out. Second ball, I got out. He said, 'you get out one more time, and you're going home'. He threw me the third ball, I got out. He put his bag down, and walked off. So from that day , he was coach to me,” he recalled.
“I'm probably closer to him than anybody else in the world. I'm blessed to have a person in my life whom I trust with my life,” Jennings said.
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