‘Leave the kid alone please’ – Aakash Chopra shields RR’s Yashasvi Jaiswal against distasteful criticism

Yashasvi Jaiswal came into the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) on the back of some impressive knocks, both at the domestic and U19 level. Though India lost the U19 World Cup in South Africa, the southpaw grabbed the headlines with his magnificent stroke-play and stupendous level of consistency. In 2019, he also smashed a double ton in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.

Adding to his delight, Rajasthan Royals (RR) picked him up for the IPL. However, the left-hander hasn’t had the best of tournaments with the bat in hand. In his first two outings, he got scores of six and zero. On Friday, October 9, the Royals lost to the Delhi Capitals (DC) by 46 runs and even this time around, the Uttar Pradesh-born couldn’t perform well.

He opened the batting after DC put on 184 on the board for the loss of eight wickets. Jaiswal couldn’t even score at a run-a-ball even as wickets kept falling at the other end. In the end, he did smash one four and two sixes, but got out after scoring 34 off 36 at a strike-rate of 94.44.

Marcus Stoinis castled him in the 13th over to cut short his stay in the middle. The Royals were bowled out for 138 in 19.4 overs and they lost their fourth match in a row to stay at the bottom-half of the points table.

Yashasvi Jaiswal straining against DC  

In the meantime, after only a few indifferent knocks, Jaiswal has had to face the heat from the social media users. Twitterati can be merciless and this time, a talented youngster like Jaiswal wasn’t spared either. He was criticised for playing slow on a pitch, deemed as one of the best in the tournament. In the meantime, former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra wasn’t happy by any means.

He asked the troller to ‘have a heart’ and asked to ‘leave the kid alone’. Chopra was also clear cut in saying that it’s not fair to expect someone, as young as Jaiswal to show maturity similar to an experienced cricketer.

He replied to the tweet and wrote, “Have a heart. That’s all I’ll tell you. Leave the kid along please. I am sure that senior players can take a joke but it’s unfair to expect same maturity from a 19yo.”

Here’s Chopra’s reply: