South African cricket veteran and former Royal Challengers Banglore legend AB de Villiers has picked 21-year-old Rajasthan Royals batter Yashasvi Jaiswal as his favourite player from the 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League. Choosing the uncapped player ahead of fan favourites like Virat Kohli and Shubhman Gill, de Villiers stated that Jaiswal has all the necessary ingredients to be a great player.
"Yashasvi Jaiswal for me and by a long margin for sure. He is a young player and has got all the shots in the book. He has a calm and composed temperament at the wicket and I love what he does, dominating the bowlers and always looks like he is in control," de Villiers said while talking on JioCinema.
“Shubman is a little bit older, I think Jaiswal's got a long way to go, and he has all the credentials to become great,” the South African added.
Yashasvi Jaiswal joined the Rajasthan squad in 2020 after a blistering performance in the Under-19 World Cup and the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Becoming the youngest Indian to score a double century in List A cricket at just 17, Jaiswal was picked up by RR in 2020 for Rs 2.4 crore.
While his transition to the IPL wasn’t smooth, he was still retained by RR. He repaid that faith with his fierce performance in IPL 2023. Scoring 625 runs across 14 matches, Jaiswal became the highest run scorer for his team. With a strike rate of 163.61 and an average of 48.08, the 21-year-old star batter also smashed the fastest half-century record in the IPL, notching 50 runs with just 13 balls.
While Rajasthan Royals finished fifth in the league table and just missed playoffs, Jaiswal’s performance has not gone unnoticed. The young opener was recently called up as a standby replacement for Ruturaj Gaikwad for the upcoming World Test Championship.
