Follow UsYashasvi Jaiswal may have stolen the limelight with the bat with an unbeaten 47-ball 98, including the fastest fifty in Indian Premier League (IPL) history, but Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson was all praise for leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who is now the leading wicket-taker in the tournament.
Chahal finished with figures of 4 for 25 from his four overs and in the process went past Dwayne Bravo's tally of 183 IPL wickets.
"It's time to give Chahal the legend tag. Very grateful to have him. You just need to give him the ball without saying anything and has introduced the concept of leggies bowling at the death," Samson said after the post-match presentation.
Samson (48*) put on an unbeaten 121-run stand for the second wicket with Jaiswal said that all he had to do was rotate the strike and give the southpaw as much strike as possible.
"I didn't have to do anything, just rotate strike and watch. He loves the powerplay and happy that he's played so well," the RR captain said.
Lavishing praise on Jaiswal, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Nitish Rana felt today was one of those days where the 21-year-old could do anything and get away with it. In fact, Jaiswal scored 26 runs off the very first over of the chase, which Rana bowled.
"You have to praise his innings [on Jaiswal], it was a day when he could do anything he wanted," Rana said.
"It was a 180 wicket as I said at the toss, our batting wasn't great and that's the result of us dropping 2 points. He was batting well right through the tournament, so I thought a part-time spinner could perhaps make him complacent, that was the plan, but he played superbly and those things do happen."
Jaiswal, who has 575 runs to his name at a strike-rate of 167.15, says he is grateful to a platform like IPL that allows youngsters like him to showcase their talent.
"I'm just grateful for a tournament like the IPL where youngsters like me can come and perform. This has been a great platform for players like me to fulfill my dreams," Jaiswal said.
Jaiswal further added that he trusts himself and believes the results will come.
"This is always in my mind, to go out there and play well. It was a nice feeling today. It is not like everything I wanted happens, I prepare well and I trust in myself. I know the results will come. The winning shot was a great feeling, I wanted to finish the game and winning the game has been my motto. I'm blessed and grateful, I'm trying my best," Jaiswal, who has four fifties and a century in IPL 2023 said.
With this massive nine-wicket victory, RR jump to third spot with 12 points in as many matches. KKR, on the other hand, remain in seventh spot with 10 points. RR will hope to continue this momentum into their next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Sunday (May 14), while KKR take on Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on the same day at Chepauk.