The incident unfolded during a Duleep Trophy match between West Zone and South Zone in 2022.
While Rahane admitted that Jaiswal must have been disappointed, he opened up on the turn of events that forced him to take this call.
Jaiswal had been repeatedly sledging South Zone’s batter Ravi Teja leading to warnings from the umpires. As a result, the West Zone skipper decided to bench the left-hander.
Speaking on the Curly Tales podcast on YouTube, Rahane said he was only thinking about what was best for the player and decided to take a stern stand.
“Yes, he might have been upset with me. While you can sledge another player, but you cannot cross the line. I thought at that moment he had unknowingly crossed the line. The incident was such that had I not sent him out, he could have been banned from the next match,” Rahane stated.
In hindsight, Rahane’s call proved to be beneficial for Jaiswal as the match referee had told the captain that he was going to give the youngster a four-match ban.
“I took this call instinctively to send him out of the pitch and the match referee had told me that he was going to hand Jaiswal a four-match ban. Even the referee did not expect to see such a move but because of that, he didn’t give the ban. He was just given a fine of 15-20 per cent of his match fees and he played the matches after as well,” he remarked.
The incident marked a turning point, prompting Jaiswal to reflect on his behaviour. The southpaw has been excelling on the cricket field ever since, especially in Test cricket.
Yashasvi Jaiswal has represented India in 12 Tests so far, amassing 1265 runs at an average of 60.23 with three hundreds and seven half-centuries.