‘You can see that hunger, that passion, that drive that is so needed to make it to the top’ - Ravi Shastri backs Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rinku Singh as potential future stars

Rajasthan Royals opener Yashasvi Jaiswal is in phenomenal form in the ongoing IPL 2023 as the 21-year-old has smashed 575 runs in 13 matches so far in the tournament. He has been a force to reckon with and with that, former India head coach Ravi Shastri believes that the Uttar Pradesh-born cricketer can soon break into the national team.

Lauding him for all his achievements in the ongoing season, Shastri mentioned that the cricketer has improved significantly in the last twelve months. The former cricketer also said that not just Jaiswal, Kolkata Knight Riders batter Rinku Singh too has played a brilliant brand of cricket so far. 

The Aligarh-born cricketer has been one of the most dependable batters in the KKR set-up and has done the job time and again for the two-time champions this season. Coming from a humble background, he has made the most of the opportunity he has got and Shastri lauded him for that.

“One is (Yashasvi) Jaiswal, simply because of the way he's played this season and for me it is a marked improvement from what I saw from him last year, which is a very, very positive sign. It shows that there's a young guy prepared to work on his game, sort out things, get a more all-round game into play and he's done that this season. Just the power with which he's re-taking shots. Just the pockets he's hitting around the ground as opposed to last year is very good.

“The other bloke is Rinku Singh, which is a great story. The more I see of him, that guy has got a fabulous temperament. He's tough as nails. Both these guys have come through very hard backgrounds. They've worked very hard initially in their lives and nothing's come easy for them. So you can see that hunger, that passion, that drive that is so needed to make it to the top,” Shastri said in the latest episode of The ICC Review.

Notably, both Jaiswal and Rinku Singh’s teams are in jeopardy at the moment as both RR and KKR will have to win their last league games of the season in order to stay alive in the playoffs race. However, even if they win, they will have to keep an eye on other teams and also on the net run rate.