Former Indian cricket team batter Aakash Chopra was all praise for Yashasvi Jaiswal as Rajasthan Royals registered a commanding win over Chennai Super Kings in their IPL 2026 encounter on Monday. It was a brilliant show from Vaibhav Suryavanshi as he slammed a fiery half-century to guide his team to victory. However, Chopra was impressed with the maturity shown by Jaiswal and said that he managed to keep his ego in control for the sake of the team. The ex-India opener even compared the youngster to Virat Kohli and said that he was able to look at the ‘larger picture’.
“Yashasvi Jaiswal showed a lot of maturity. He allowed the hitting to be done from the other end. We saw glimpses of Virat Kohli in him, that one needs to look at the larger picture, keep the ego aside, and not compete with the batter at the other end,” Chopra said.
“The team needs to win, and if it’s possible to go as a red-inker, do that. Red-inker means a star against your name, which means unbeaten. Whoever has a star against his name more times, especially in a run chase, becomes a superstar. Yashasvi Jaiswal drove the game carefully. That was excellent,” he added.
Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 38 off 36 deliveries as he made sure that his team cruised to the victory. He played the perfect supporting role to Sooryavanshi and then stitched together a sold partnerships with Dhruv Jurel and skipper Riyan Parag.
Earlier, Ravindra Jadeja praised young batting sensation Vaibhav Sooryavanshi for his fearless and aggressive approach, saying he bats the same way in the nets as he does in matches.
Jadeja highlighted the difficult pitch conditions in RR’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 opener against Chennai Super Kings, were their was help for the seamers with the new ball, yet Suryavanshi still played attacking shots and raced to a quickfire fifty, calling it an exceptional effort.
“Can’t bowl him into the stumps in nets, he smashes every ball into the stands. Vaibhav has a very fearless mindset. Because he bats in the net the same way as he bats in the match. The batting that Vaibhav did today, it wasn’t that easy. The new ball was swinging. It was so difficult, yet he was hitting big shots and scored 50 runs in just a few balls,” Jadeja said in a video posted by the Rajasthan Royals on Instagram.
It was another Suryavanshi special, the second-fastest fifty by an RR batter in IPL history, which helped RR to a one-sided win over CSK by eight wickets in Guwahati on Monday.
While chasing 128 runs, it was his 15-ball half-century and quickfire 75-run stand with Jaiswal which totally put the match beyond CSK’s reach.
(With agency inputs)