Kumar Sangakkara explained the bond between Yashasvi Jaiswal and Joe Root during their time together at Rajasthan Royals and how the England batter mentored the Indian opener. Root played in the IPL during the 2023 season as he made three appearances for the Jaipur-based franchise. Incidentally, this was the breakout season for Jaiswal as he scored 625 runs in 14 matches and scored a hundred as well.
Jaiswal went on to become a mainstay in the Test team and has already scored 192 runs in 3 innings. Speaking to Sky Sports, Sangakkara, who works as the Director Of Cricket with the Royals, revealed the bond the young opener shared with Root.
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Sangakkara said that they had a nickname for the Indian opener and it was Joeswal as he was constantly by Root’s side and learning everything.
“Every young cricketer that I come across has that same passion. The only thing is they do understand what’s on offer and how to navigate that cricketing landscape and the changing of it. So I think careers will come down, the span of careers will come down, and we’re seeing it already, and I don’t think it’s gonna be any different for Jaiswal, especially when he has to manage his body and his workload. But we had Joe Root at Rajasthan Royals and we used to call Jaiswal, Joeswal, because he never left Joe’s side and soaking up everything,” said Sangakkara.
‘Jaiswal is a fast learner’
Sangakkara said that conversations between Root and Jaiswal were about cricket and life and they would sit for four hours every night and the Indian opener would ask him a lot of questions and listen to the England batter.
The RR director said that Jaiswal is a fast learner.
“And they weren’t talking just T20, they were talking about everything cricket and life, and he would sit right next to Joe for about 4 hours every night and just pester him with questions or just open-mouth listening to Root. Root was absolutely brilliant in our environment and he’s learned so much and that’s another aspect of Jaiswal, he’s a fast learner and he wants to learn,” said Sangakkara.
Jasiwal scored 87 in the first innings of the Edgbaston Test.
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