Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson took a cheeky dig at young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Samson revealed several support staff members were hospitalised as they dislocated their shoulders bowling to Jaiswal in the nets.
In the pre-season press conference, Samson revealed that Jaiswal has to be pulled out of nets as he makes the job of throwdown speciallists tough.
"We have four Sardar ji's in our practice camp. One is called Cut, Pull, Flick, and Drive. The guy called "Cut" only balls and cut balls to practice the guy called Pull only bowls pull to practice. So same for the other guys. They dislocated their shoulders because of Jaiswal last season. They were in the hospital and they made a comeback. I think instead of players, the staff gets injured because of Jaiswal," Samson said in an event organised by Star Sports.
Jaiswal’s numbers from previous season
Jaiswal justified long hours of batting in the nets by becoming Royals' highest run-scorer in the previous season. The left-handed batter scored 625 runs from 14 games at an average of 48.07 including one century and five half-centuries. His strike rate of 163.61 was the highest among the top five run-scorers of the season.
In-form Jaiswal’s chance to leave Dravid behind
Jaiswal has been in good form of late. He smashed two double centuries against England and equalled the record for most sixes in a Test inning. He also became the first Indian batter after Sunil Gavaskar to score more than 700 runs in a Test series.
The 22-year-old will have a chance to leave India head coach Rahul Dravid behind and become RR's fifth-highest run-scorer in IPL history. Jaiswal has 1,172 runs from 37 games. He is 154 runs behind former RR captain Dravid who has 1,324 runs from 52 games at an average of 27.02 including seven half-centuries.
Royals’ IPL 2024 opener
Jaiswal will be seen in action in RR's season opener against KL Rahul-led Lucknow Super Giants on March 24 in Jaipur. The youngster will make a formidable opening pair with England’s T20I captain and hard-hitting batter Jos Buttler.
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