New Delhi
Rumors of a major upset in the IPL trade window have intensified with Rajasthan Royals and Lucknow Super Giants in serious talks for a player swap. According to the latest report of Cricbuzz, this possible multi-player deal includes experienced fast bowler Mohammed Shami of Lucknow and English all-rounder Sam Curran of Rajasthan. Apart from this, there is talk of Lucknow's left arm spinner Manimaran Siddharth also being a part of this proposal.
Discussion of the name of Yashasvi Jaiswal
The most shocking aspect of this entire conversation is the name of Rajasthan Royals' star opening batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal coming to the fore. There has also been a churn between the two franchises regarding Jaiswal where the Rajasthan team is demanding another Indian fast bowler from Lucknow in return. However, the final agreement on Jaiswal's part has not been reached between the two teams yet, but the players have already been informed about this possible change.
Special strategy behind bringing Mohammed Shami
There is a big mathematics of team combination hidden behind this strategy of Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan already has fast bowlers like Joffra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Mafaka and Nandre Berger. In such a situation, by including Shami in their camp, Rajasthan team wants to play only Archer as a fast bowler from the foreign quota so that the remaining foreign slots can be used for specialist batsmen and all-rounders.
Lucknow team will become stronger with the arrival of Sam Curran
On the other hand, this deal also looks quite beneficial for Lucknow Super Giants. Despite being close to 40 years of age, Mohammed Shami has proved that he has the ability to win matches but due to the abundance of Indian fast bowlers, Lucknow can take the risk of releasing Shami. Lucknow is in dire need of excellent all-rounders to create balance in its team, which Sam Curran can fulfill very well.
Yashasvi Jaiswal's name has remained in the headlines throughout this trade window. Earlier there were also reports that Rajasthan had offered Jaiswal and Ravi Bishnoi to Mumbai Indians to get Hardik Pandya, however later Hardik went to Punjab Kings in exchange for Arshdeep Singh. It seems that Rajasthan Royals have made up their mind to move ahead by breaking the dangerous opening pair of Jaiswal with Vaibhav Suryavanshi as in the current era, franchises are not shying away from playing big bets to acquire a world class Indian fast bowler.