England’s Will Jacks made his IPL debut after a long wait during today’s IPL 2024 clash between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium.
Subscribe to the Wisden Cricket YouTube channel for post-match analysis, player interviews, and much more.
RCB had picked up Will Jacks at the IPL 2023 auction for a price of INR 3.2 crore. However, he was ruled out before the start of the season due to an injury and was replaced by New Zealand all-rounder Michael Bracewell.
Jacks was back fit for IPL 2024 and warmed the benches for the first five matches of the season before finally getting a game in the sixth, against MI in Mumbai.
Jacks finally gets an IPL debut
RCB replaced Cam Green with Will Jacks for their game against MI. Faf du Plessis, the RCB captain, who lost the toss and was asked to bat first, said that they were looking to “bring some fresh energy into the team”.
Will Jacks received his IPL debut cap from Virat Kohli. pic.twitter.com/08PyjZuhha
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 11, 2024
Du Plessis also revealed that Jacks will bat at No.3. They also called in Mahipal Lomror and Vyshak Vijaykumar, making three changes in all in the playing XI.
Jacks has a brilliant T20 record, having scored more than 4,000 runs in the format at a strike rate of 158, including three hundreds. This year, specifically, he has been in scintillating form, having scored two hundreds from 14 games.
Not a memorable IPL debut
However, he failed to have much of an impact on his IPL debut as he was dismissed on eight off six by Akash Madhwal in the fourth over of the RCB innings.
Jacks came out to bat at the fall of Virat Kohli’s wicket and hit two crisp boundaries through the leg side, one off Jasprit Bumrah and one off Madhwal, before hitting a hard length ball straight into the hands of mid-on.
After the first overs, RCB were 28-2.
