Jaiswal still 'trying too hard, too early', says Jaffer

Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 67 runs. Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Punjab Kings (PBKS). If you hadn't watched the IPL 2025 game on Saturday night, you would think Sanju Samson was a soothsayer for saying "when he [Jaiswal] performs, he will be winning the games". Except that it was the slowest half-century of Jaiswal's IPL career, off 40 balls, and "it didn't look like he was finding his form", as Wasim Jaffer put it.

"He was still looking to hit the ball really hard. He hit five sixes and three fours, so that's a high boundary rate, but still played a lot of dot balls," Jaffer said on ESPNcricinfo's TimeOut show. There were 12 dot balls in Jaiswal's 45-ball 67. Perhaps not a massive number for someone still looking to settle into IPL 2025.

Mark Boucher was in agreement with Jaffer.

"Getting to fifty, I think he faced close to 40 balls. Then the next five balls after that, he was at an incredible strike rate," Boucher said, referring to the 17 he scored in the five balls he lasted after getting to the landmark - he hit a six the ball after he got to fifty, and went 1, 6, 4 off the next three before getting out.

"It's almost like he just needed to be there for another two or three overs in order for him to have that match-winning innings that we all know he is very capable of, and he has done in the past. He'll be quite disappointed to get out when he did actually get out. It was at that point where it was the tipping edge for him [to play] a very significant knock."

Jaiswal had been a point of discussion over the past few days for two reasons. First, his poor returns with the bat - 1, 29 and 4 before this game. And second, the move from Mumbai to Goa in the Indian domestic circuit. Goa won the Ranji Trophy plate title last season and will play in the elite group in 2025-26.

Jaffer, a giant of Mumbai and Indian domestic cricket, said he was "surprised and shocked" with the decision.

"No matter what Goa was offering him. You don't leave Mumbai, especially at this age [Jaiswal is 23]," Jaffer said. "It's okay if somebody is 34-35 then you want to go out."

There have been unconfirmed murmurs about differences with the Mumbai team management, and Jaffer acknowledged that.

"That must have prompted him to take this decision, but I think leaving Mumbai is a shocking decision," Jaffer said. "He's a powerhouse. Somebody who has played from Under-14s to now, for Mumbai, and Goa being a plate-group team that has just come into the elite group - for him to go and play there, whatever time he will spend on first-class cricket, I am surprised he's taken that decision so soon."

As such, India's international cricketers rarely have - or make - time for domestic cricket. There was a directive from the BCCI recently asking India players who were not gainfully occupied elsewhere or battling fitness issues to return to domestic cricket. This was following India's Test series loss in Australia. Some of the biggest names in the game did pay heed. Jaiswal was among them, and he played Mumbai's Ranji game against Jammu & Kashmir in late January, scoring 4 and 26 in a defeat.

"But he shouldn't be looking to play Ranji Trophy," Jaffer said. "For somebody like him, he should be playing for India in all three formats. That should be his focus.

"I'm sure it [the move] is playing on his mind. Because that has been happening in this week or two. But yes, runs from him is very, very vital for Rajasthan Royals. He's looking a little bit off-colour; trying too hard, trying too hard, too early."