Veteran India batter Suresh Raina feels that the credit for Yashasvi Jaiswal’s success in IPL 2023 should be given to Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara. Jaiswal set the stage on fire in the ongoing season of Indian Premier League and scored 625 runs in 14 matches at an average of 48.08, including 5 half-centuries and a ton.
The southpaw played another crucial knock for Royals on Friday, scoring a fifty in the tricky 188-run stage to help his team register a crucial win to keep the play-off hopes alive.
Set a tricky target of 188 for victory, the Royals, reached 189/6 in 19.4 overs with Shimron Hetmyer scoring 46 (28b, 4×4, 3×6), opener Yashasvi Jaiswal hitting 50 (36b, 8×4) and Devdutt Padikkal hammering 51 (30b, 5×4, 3×6). Earlier, PBKS scored 187/5 thanks largely to the efforts of Sam Curran 49 not out (31b, 4×4, 2×6), Jitesh Sharma 44 (28b, 3×4, 3×6) and M Shahrukh Khan 41 not out (23b, 4×4, 2×6).
The win kept RR in the hunt but their fate also depends on the results of other matches - Mumbai Indians vs Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Gujarat Titans. Rajasthan Royals displaced Mumbai Indians at the fifth spot on the points table with 14 points at NRR of +0.148 but game in hand gives MI an edge in the race over Samson and Co.
Analysing Royals’ performance, JioCinema IPL expert Pragyan Ojha said: “I think it’s too late now. For a team who you kept in your top four before the start of the tournament to now come and think that they can advance only if the other team that is in contention loses is a situation they brought upon themselves."
“That is something they have to think about. As Raina (Suresh) pointed out Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler got out for ducks in five of the 14 games. Then they were left searching for bowlers, also the way they used their bowlers… The small things add up to something big and it is visible in the eventual result," he added.
Speaking about Jaiswal, another JioCinema IPL expert Suresh Raina said: “There is a certain calmness in his batting. There is a different energy in his body language, scoring runs consistently for his team. For this, I’ll give a lot of credit to Kumar Sangakkara who is sitting in their dugout. He’s (Jaiswal) a different type of player. He looks to dominate. And any player who looks to dominate in this format reaches a different level. He has all those qualities."