"He went into practice at 2 in the afternoon and finished at 12.45 at night"- Robin Uthappa recalls Yashasvi Jaiswal's 'obsession' with cricket

Former India wicketkeeper-batter Robin Uthappa recalled Yashasvi Jaiswal's obsession with cricket when the duo were together for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in IPL 2020. It was Uthappa's final season with RR and Jaiswal's first.

The youngster has been in incredible form with the bat, coming off a historic Test series against England. Jaiswal became only the second Indian to score 700-PLUS runs in a series, finishing on 712 runs at an average of 89 in five games.

The southpaw also took the IPL by storm last year, scoring 625 runs at an average of 48 and a strike rate of 163.61 in 14 games.

Talking on Jio Cinema ahead of IPL 2024, Uthappa highlighted Jaiswal's obsession with cricket with an incident from 2020.

"I worked closely with Yashasvi when he came into the IPL in 2020 with RR. He is a bit of a cricket nut. He is obsessed with the game. He knows nothing but cricket. He lives, breathes, and eats only cricket. You will see him walking off randomly on the bench, talking to himself and figuring his game out. An example of a practice session he had with the RR academy was that he went into practice at 2 in the afternoon and finished at 12.45 at night and just kept batting," said Uthappa.

Despite Jaiswal's heroics, RR failed to qualify for the playoffs last season, finishing fifth on the points table.

Rajasthan will open their IPL 2024 campaign with a home game against the Lucknow Super Giants on March 24.

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"He is an all-format player and should have played for India a lot more" - Robin Uthappa on Ruturaj Gaikwad

IPL 2023: Qualifier 1 - Gujarat Titans v Chennai Super Kings

Robin Uthappa praised Ruturaj Gaikwad by calling him an 'all-format player' and someone who should have already played a lot more for India.

Despite tremendous success at the domestic level, the 27-year-old has represented India in only 19 T20Is and six ODIs. Ruturaj has been the backbone of CSK's batting over the past three seasons, including winning the Orange Cap in 2021.

"He is an all-format player and should have played for India a lot more than he has but the competition is so much that he hasn't played much," Uthappa said on Ruturaj.

Uthappa also praised wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel, saying:

"Another one that's coming up the ranks is Dhruv Jurel. I really like him. He's one for the future and I think he plays that finisher's role with panache."

After an impressive maiden season with RR last year, where he struck at a strike rate of almost 173, Jurel had a sensational India debut in the recently concluded Test series against England.

The 23-year-old scored 90 and 39* under trying circumstances in the series-clinching fourth Test in Ranchi.