Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that the Rajasthan Royals (RR) should retain Yashasvi Jaiswal before the IPL 2025 auction. He also noted that one bad season does not define a player. However, RR reached the IPL 2024 playoffs and were knocked out by the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 2 as well. Notably, Jaiswal scored 435 runs at a below-par average of 31.07 in 15 innings in the recently concluded season as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “The first will be the captain – Sanju Samson. Firstly, he is a good captain. (Ravichandran) Ashwin was saying the other day – ‘I don’t know where he has learned this art but he is a very good captain’. From wherever he might have learned, since he is captaining well, you want to retain him. The second, I feel you will have to keep Yashasvi Jaiswal. A player does not become bad because of a year going bad. He is a long-term investment. You retained him when he was uncapped, so you should 100% retain him now.”
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However, Sanju Samson was the Rajasthan Royals’ second-highest run-scorer in this season. He amassed 531 runs at an average of 48.27 and a strike rate of 153.46 in 15 innings as well. While naming Jos Buttler as the third retention of the team, Aakash Chopra urged the Rajasthan Royals to hold on to Riyan Parag ahead of the spinner Yuzvendra Chahal if only three Indians can be retained as well. He also suggested Dhruv Jurel as an RTM option at the auction.
“Jos Buttler will be one player I will retain. So you can assume he is my third retention. Now one between Riyan Parag and Yuzvendra Chahal. I will be very tempted to retain Riyan Parag because they have invested a lot in Riyan Parag. I can acquire Yuzi Chahal using the ‘Right to Match’ card, or else the other way around,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “If I get a chance to use another ‘Right to Match’ card, I will go with Dhruv Jurel because he is the kind of player you can invest in. In the future, he can go ahead of Riyan Parag because I think he is more ready. He hasn’t got too many opportunities but I would love to hold on to him.”
