Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes the upcoming IPL 2025 will present an opportunity to Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel. While Jaiswal was retained for a whopping amount of INR 18 crore by Rajasthan Royals, Jurel was retained for INR 14 crore before the IPL 2025 mega-auction.
The analyst noted that Jaiswal would get his place in ODIs sooner than later but he might need to fight for a spot in India’s T20I squad as Sanju Samson and Abhishek Sharma have grabbed their chances with both hands at the top of the order.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal has to make his place in the T20 format. I feel he will automatically get a place in ODIs after some time, but he has to make a place in T20Is, and he won’t get a place there easily because Sanju Samson is there with Abhishek Sharma. So if he has a great IPL season, he could be that guy,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
On the other hand, Jurel could only manage 195 runs in 11 innings in IPL 2024 for the inaugural champions but Chopra reckons the wicket-keeper bat has been retained on the basis of promise and potential.
“You will then get Dhruv Jurel. A huge punt has been played on him. He is a brilliant player, but you have paid ₹14 crore on potential and promise. I feel he is a phenomenal player. So he has something different to prove,” Chopra added.
Meanwhile, Chopra highlighted that Sanju Samson will be targeted with short balls as he was dismissed on five occasions by bouncers in the five-match T20I series against England.
“Sanju Samson got out to bouncers five times in his last five innings in international cricket. So bouncers will be bowled to him. He has to silence all critics. So he needs to score runs. He wants to graduate from T20 to the other formats. So that’s the challenge for him,” he said.
The reputed commentator said Riyan Parag and Nitish Rana will also want to prove their mettle in the upcoming tournament.
“Nitish Rana was slightly troubled because of loyalty when Kolkata didn’t retain him. So he has to prove something different. If you look at Riyan Parag, he went out due to injury, or else he was getting into the scheme of things of Indian cricket. So you want to look towards him,” Chopra added.
RR will begin their IPL 2025 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on 23rd March.
