Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has revealed how Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal tried to have deep conversations with veteran batter Joe Root when the English batter was with the franchise in IPL 2023.

The Sri Lankan legend revealed Jaiswal spent a lot of time with Root and asked him the right questions. Jaiswal is hungry for more success and wanted to learn from the best in the business.

“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 on Sky Sports.

The former Sri Lankan captain added that Jaiswal is a fast learner and works hard on his game at the top level.

“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.

Meanwhile, Jaiswal scored a fine knock of 101 runs in the first innings of the opening Test against England at Leeds, Headingley. The Indian opener continued his rich form in the second Test, scoring 87 runs in the first dig against the hosts.

India has posted 587 runs in the first innings, whereas England are struggling at 77-3 at stumps on day two with Joe Root unbeaten on 18.