Yashasvi Jaiswal pulled up by ex-KKR star for missing 'opportunity to take on responsibility' amid RR's horror start

Yashasvi Jaiswal's start to the season hasn't been too different from that of his side. He was dismissed for one run in Rajasthan Royals' season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad and then for a 24-ball 29 in the second match against Kolkata Knight Riders in Guwahati. Former India and KKR star Robin Uthappa said that Jaiswal missed a chance to build on the start he got on a tricky pitch and guide his team to a strong total in the latter game.

“This was an opportunity for him to take on the responsibility and guide his team through. He was a set batter on a pitch that wasn't the easiest for batting," said Uthappa on Jio Hotstar.

“When I say that, I mean in comparison to the high-scoring surfaces we see today, especially with the impact player rule allowing teams to field up to eight specialist batters, plus an all-rounder, effectively giving them nine batting options. With that depth, batters have the freedom to attack, but reading the conditions and match situation is crucial. Unfortunately, Yashasvi didn't do that today.

Jaiswal put up a 33-run opening stand with Sanju Samson and then a partnership of 34 runs with stand-in captain Riyan Parag. He finally fell trying go big against Moeen Ali in the ninth over. RR were eventually limited to a score of 151/9, which KKR had little difficult chasing thanks to opener Quinton de Kock seeing them all the way through and scoring an unbeaten 97 in 61 balls. KKR won the match by eight wickets.

Jaiswal was retained by RR for INR 18 crore ahead of the mega auction in November last year, having scored 435 runs in 16 matches at a strike rate of 155.91 with one century and a half-century. Having made his debut in the 2020 season of the IPL, Jaiswal has been with RR throughout his career. He has scored 1637 runs in 55 IPL matches at a strike rate of 149.36 with two centuries and nine half-centuries.