Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra has picked India’s promising batting line-up as Rajasthan Royals’ strength for the upcoming Indian Premier League. The inaugural champions were able to retain the services of Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal before IPL 2025 mega auction.
Chopra highlighted that the quartet is the future of Indian batting and they are going to hold the key for RR in the upcoming season. While Samson and Jaiswal were retained for INR 18 crore each, the franchise spent 14 crore each on retaining Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel.
“They have the Indian team’s present and future. Sanju Samson is T20’s present and future. Yashasvi Jaiswal is your present and future in Tests. Dhruv Jurel is the future. You can look towards Riyan Parag from that point of view,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.
Chopra noted that these batters might lack international experience but they have shown all the promise to go a long way in their career.
“So the Indian batters they have are all very, very promising, and that is thumbs up with both hands. They are very good. They have little international experience, but they are primarily young. I won’t say they are inexperienced but they are not major superstars. All of them are hungry. They are all promising and young,” Chopra observed.
On the other hand, the cricket analyst feels the spin bowling duo of Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga is not the same as Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
“Apart from that, the spin-bowling department. I sometimes feel that you can go with two overseas spinners only if you have Noor Ahmad and Rashid Khan in your team. That quality should be there. If that’s not the case, going with two overseas spinners is a difficult one. They have chosen two Sri Lankans. One is Maheesh Theekshana and the other is Wanindu Hasaranga,” he said.
“Some people may see it as a strength. I am trying to see it as a strength but I don’t feel it should be counted as a strength for the Rajasthan Royals. The ball turns on this ground and it’s a big ground. They used to have Ashwin and Chahal, but now they have two overseas spinners replacing them. They are asking for a bit too much,” he observed.
RR will begin their IPL 2025 campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on 23rd March.
