"You have paid ₹14 crore on potential and promise" - Aakash Chopra on the opportunities for Rajasthan Royals players in IPL 2025

Former India player Aakash Chopra has noted that IPL 2025 presents an opportunity for many Rajasthan Royals (RR) players. He pointed out that Dhruv Jurel would want to prove his worth after being retained by the franchise for an exorbitant sum ahead of the mega auction.

Jurel aggregated just 195 runs at an average of 24.38 in 11 innings in IPL 2024. However, RR retained him for ₹14 crore ahead of some of their star players like Jos Buttler, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Trent Boult.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener chose Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel among the Rajasthan Royals players with great opportunities in IPL 2025.

"Yashasvi Jaiswal has to make his place in the T20 format. I feel he will automatically get a place in ODIs after some time, but he has to make a place in T20Is, and he won't get a place there easily because Sanju Samson is there with Abhishek Sharma. So if he has a great IPL season, he could be that guy," he said (8:20).

"You will then get Dhruv Jurel. A huge punt has been played on him. He is a brilliant player, but you have paid ₹14 crore on potential and promise. I feel he is a phenomenal player. So he has something different to prove," Chopra added.

Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has established himself as a Test opener, has represented India in a solitary ODI. Although the Rajasthan Royals opener has smashed 723 runs at a strike rate of 164.31 in 22 T20I innings, he has stiff competition for the top-order batting positions in the shortest format.

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"He wants to graduate from T20 to the other formats" - Aakash Chopra on the opportunity for Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson in IPL 2025

Sanju Samson struck three T20I centuries last year. [P/C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson has a chance to overcome his short-ball issues and stake his claim for a spot in India's longer format sides through his performances in IPL 2025.

"Sanju Samson got out to bouncers five times in his last five innings in international cricket. So bouncers will be bowled to him. He has to silence all critics. So he needs to score runs. He wants to graduate from T20 to the other formats. So that's the challenge for him," he said.

While observing that Nitish Rana would want to prove that he was wrongly released by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), the analyst added that Riyan Parag would want to put forth his case for a place in India's T20I side.

"Nitish Rana was slightly troubled because of loyalty when Kolkata didn't retain him. So he has to prove something different. If you look at Riyan Parag, he went out due to injury, or else he was getting into the scheme of things of Indian cricket. So you want to look towards him," Chopra added.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra reckoned that India's 2024 T20 World Cup-winning head coach Rahul Dravid would once again want to prove his coaching credentials. While acknowledging that the Rajasthan Royals are not looking very strong on paper, he added that they could combine the five fingers to make a fist.