Promising opener Yashasvi Jaiswal made a dream comeback with a career-best 68 as Rajasthan Royals (RR) well and truly remained in hunt for a play-off berth beating Punjab Kings (PBKS) by six wickets, which also happened to be their first while chasing in this edition of IPL.
Drafted in place of Karun Nair, the 20-year-old showed superb game awareness and picked the gaps at ease in a 41-ball 68 (9x4, 2x6) to brilliantly set it up for the Rajasthan Royals in their tall 190-run chase at the Wankhede which was completed with two balls to spare.
With its first successful run-chase, Royals team are now on 14 points from 11 matches in third place and one more win will firmly put them in contention for a a to-four finish.
Hetmyer lavishes praise on Yashasvi
Meanwhile, Shimron Hetmyer attributed his team's batting depth being the reason for a clinically successful chase as he showered praise on Jaiswal for his exception knock.
"His (Jaiswal) knock was brilliant. I'm really happy to see him get some runs, just go out there and express himself. It was one of the best knocks that I've seen in a while. It was lovely to look at, I'm really, really happy for me," he said.
"Chasing a tall 190 really shows that we have a lot of depth in our batting. There's a lot of belief in each and every player. We are making sure we keep believing that we could do it," the West Indies batter said.
Jaiswal departed in the 15th over with just 49 needed from 35 balls as Hetmyer played the role of a finisher in his 16-ball 31.
"This year, I'm really taking as much time as I possibly can. In the past couple of years, I just didn't really give myself that much of a chance. this time, I'm just giving myself at least 5-6 balls and then just go from there. So far it's been working," the 25-year-old said after finishing the game for his side.
It was the 20-year-old's sheer dominance against the experienced Punjab attack that really stood out.
"Jaiswal is lovely to look at. He's really working hard in the nets, just to get a chance and express himself the way he did, I'm really loss for words," he said.
