Yashasvi Jaiswal had a terrific run in the 2023 edition of the IPL. The youngster notched up 625 runs in 14 matches in the season at an average of 48.08 and also scored a brilliant hundred. Courtesy of a consistent run in the domestic circuit for Mumbai and then the stellar IPL season, Jaiswal replaced Ruturaj Gaikwad as a standby in India’s Test squad for World Test Championship final.
In an exclusive conversation with News18 CricketNext, Rajasthan Royals CEO Jake Lush McCrum talks about the rise of Jaiswal, other young players doing well in the RR set-up and more.
Edited Excerpts:
Your thoughts on Yashasvi Jaiswal’s progress
Jaiswal was one of those players that we are more proud of than anyone else because we’re the only franchise he’s ever been with. He was the first player I ever met in India, and the first thing I saw was when he was 16-17 at our trials, and it was a 145 kmph fast bowler. And he stepped across and he scooped him first ball. That’s the mentality of Jaiswal.
He’s had to fight for everything he’s achieved in life. He’s learned so much. We’ve developed him, whether we’ve helped him travel around the world, learned from different cultures, we’ve pushed him into business environments. So he has to present in front of those people.
Anything that can challenge his mind to get him better prepared for the pressure situation. He’s outstanding. I mean, just his hunger to win, his hunger to be the best. That’s why he’s just been picked in the Indian squad. I think he’ll play for India for many years to come, and he’ll play for Rajasthan Royals for many, many years.
Dhruv Jurel has been a find for RR this season. How impressive has he been?
Spectacular. I think he was fearless. Last season, he didn’t play. This time, he came to me and said, “Jake, last year not playing, prepared me for this moment. I have been in the dugout many times and I have seen the players go on and off I knew I had to take my opportunity, and if you don’t take your opportunity in the IPL, you might not get another one.”
And so he went in there fearlessly. He played amazingly well. Whether it’s scooping, reverse lapping, whatever it is, he’s got it. And I actually was speaking to him before the season because he put up a video of him smacking balls. I said, “Dhruv, just keep it quiet. Keep it quiet until you’re performing, until you’ve done it on the IPL stage. You don’t want people knowing you can do it because we had such confidence in him.”
And so he’s done brilliantly well. He’s got a great head on the shoulders. He works harder than almost anyone, and he learns. And he’s definitely got that.
How do you see the Campus/University Cricket, Red Bull Campus Cricket as a platform for young & budding cricketers?
I think it’s a brilliant opportunity for the youngsters. You have seen the kind of talent that has come through it like KL Rahul. We had Shashank Singh who was a part of our squad previously, and Kagiso Rabada as well. It’s been a constant flow of talent that has come from Red Bull Campus Cricket, both men and women which is amazing.
The youngsters get to interact with senior & experienced players through this platform. How important is this exposure for them?
It’s amazing and it’s a great learning for the youngsters. Yuzvendra Chahal and Dhruv Jurel are here. Dhruv has just launched on the IPL scene. I think the college he used to play for is in the final. So, it’s an inspiration for all the players who are looking at Dhruv and where he has reached. He has an amazing season and he just wants to share that experience and learning and keep getting better and better himself.
Are your current coaches in IPL also involved here?
We have coaches through the whole setup. There is also a lot of video recording done which is further shared with our team. So, we are tracking all talent. We had 5-6 players come to our trials last year who were part of RBCC as well as Red Bull Speedster. We almost bought a player from Speedster a couple of years back but KKR bid more. The player was Ashok Sharma. We had him as our net bowler this year and he continues to do well. We see it as a good platform for the new talent and hopefully, we get a few more players in our squad in the future.
The platform gives you talented players. How important is the role of the scouting team in this regard?
As a franchise, we are a data-driven franchise but when it comes to younger Indian players, there is no data on them. That’s where the RBCC, Speedster and these other innovations are really important for us. Big international players, big Indian players, we have the data but for young Indian players, scouting that talent, bringing them into the high-performance centre in Nagpur, testing them against the best there, using our technology and then rank them against the best and then hopefully, buying the best.
RR always have a very unique style of revealing the jersey. Your take on this.
There are more creative people than me who go into the planning (laughs). There was one when we were in the bubble in Dubai and a skydiver dropped in. That was amazing. Something to do of that sorts in a bubble scenario was spectacular. Then, last year, we had motor biker jumping off a stadium roof. That’s not just anywhere in the world. I love that. This year we have got some world record-breaking content not around the jersey but around the link between Red Bull and high performance and our own.
Also, over the months and years to come, we want to see the bigger and bigger impact that Red Bull is having on our high-performance side. So whether it’s the Athlete Performance Center, whether it’s the mental performance coaches who are supporting us, whether it’s the players who are directly benefiting from the learnings of Red Bull because they’ve got so many sports. I think over the years you’ll see a bigger and bigger impact from Red Bull on the performance side, I think that’s really powerful.