The brotherly instinct that shaped Yash Raj Punja’s rise Rajasthan Royals IPL 2026

When Yash Raj Punja walked out at Eden Gardens for his Rajasthan Royals debut on 19 April, there was one other cricketer in his household who was feeling the nerves simply as a lot because the leg spinner: his older brother. Punja went into the sport in opposition to Kolkata Knight Riders realizing there was a 50-50 probability that he may play, and shortly discovered himself subbed in for the second innings because the Royals seemed to defend 156.

“For us as the family and me in particular, I didn’t realize that there could be something more nerve wracking than playing myself until I had this experience,” Yash’s brother, Yodhin, tells Cricbuzz. “Because it’s almost like you are playing, but you have zero control over what’s happening and you have zero adrenaline to take you through the ups and downs.”

Yodhin was a promising cricketer himself – a fast tearaway who swung the ball each methods. At 16, he grew to become the UAE’s youngest ODI cricketer. “When you’re playing, you have a huge crowd, your mind is blocked on the technical things,” he remembers. “You have adrenaline pumping, you’re sweating. When you’re not playing, and when my little brother was playing, it’s almost like I’m on the pitch, but I have no support from adrenaline. Every ball was just pure pressure and just prayers and hoping that he does well. It was the same for my mom and dad as well.”

After conceding 12 runs in his opening over throughout the Powerplay, Yash responded with two tight overs throughout the center interval, conceding simply 10 runs. Then got here his maiden wicket: a fizzing googly that Ramandeep Singh dragged again on to his stumps. He completed with figures of 1-25, and people watching have been impressed by the lanky 20-year-old’s management and command over the wrong-un. Yodhin, nevertheless, was far much less shocked. It was he who had pushed Yash to swap quick bowling for leg spin years earlier – and who had pulled his brother into cricket within the first place.

“I really wanted a younger brother so I have someone to play cricket with me. I didn’t really leave him much choice in terms of what sport he played,” Yodhin, who’s six years older, says with a smile. Like Yodhin, Yash skilled on the Zayed Cricket Academy in Abu Dhabi the place the household have been based mostly.

It was solely pure that Yash needed to take up quick bowling like his brother. He might need been a profitable one too, together with his 6’5 body. But the change to leg spin occurred lengthy earlier than his development spurt at 15, and it was probability brotherly play that triggered it.

“Until the age of around 10, he wanted to follow me and become a fast bowler. But then when we would play in the corridor, and it’s a very small corridor, we’d only be allowed to bowl spin, that was our rule,” Yodhin recounts.

That was once I seen one thing curious. “When he would just playfully bowl leg spin, his ball would end up being a googly. That’s a skill that many cricketers spend a lot of time trying to develop. The fact that he naturally had that was very interesting to me and I spoke to our coaches in the academy and said that I think he should pursue spin. So he started working on his leg spin from that point on.”

Then got here the expansion spurt that unlocked a excessive launch level. By then, Yash already had accuracy. Now, with the flexibility to generate drift and a trajectory that few different leg spinners might match, Yash began grabbing consideration.

It was an opportunity encounter on the Dravid-Padukone Academy in Bangalore, the place Yash was coaching throughout his summer season break, that set Yash’s profession on a special trajectory. He caught the attention of Zubin Bharucha, the director of cricket on the Rajasthan Royals, who occurred to be skilled on the academy.

“So Yash being a 6 foot 5 leg spinner was offered to them as a net bowler while they were training. They were there for three days and during that camp, Zubin Bharucha had a close eye on Yash and really felt like he has the ability and the skills and the natural gift of height to be able to take cricket seriously,” Yodhin remembers.

By then, few doubts remained about Yash taking over cricket professionally. Years in the past, it was a path Yodhin had walked away from regardless of having performed senior worldwide cricket aged simply 16. “Cricket in the UAE is quite, let’s say, unstable. There are cricketers who show great promise at a young age who just go on to be lost because they aren’t backed enough,” explains Yodhin. “It’s a very dynamic system where you perform well for six months, you’re in the team and then a few bad months and you’re out. And there’s a constant rotation of cricketers within the UAE. It’s not like a long-term career that you can think of.”

Yodhin attended trials in Mumbai and impressed Omkar Salvi, who insisted that he was ok to play Under-23 cricket in Mumbai. However, confronted with the uncertainty of quick bowling and a transfer to India contrasted by the relative stability of a cricket scholarship within the UK, Yodhin selected the latter and pursued a level at Cardiff Metropolitan University.

But as soon as he graduated in 2022, visa restrictions meant he had no means of pursuing a full-time cricket profession within the UK. Well conscious of the perils of quick bowling, and having already skilled an ACL tear, Yodhin hung up his boots and selected teachers as a substitute. He now works as an auditor at Deloitte in London.

Yash took up the trail that Yodhin had chosen to not. “I would say he had more belief in himself that he’s going to be a professional cricketer and he is going to go all the way and put 100% into this,” says Yodhin, whereas admitting that Yash had the “risk it all, go get it” method that he himself didn’t.

When Yash was confronted with an analogous conundrum years later, Yodhin could be instrumental in guiding his brother in a special path to his personal journey. “I told my parents I’m going to take the safe route and go to the UK, and I told them you should back Yash to take this path because he is really good. The conviction that Zubin sir had was also very convincing. I think all these factors combined were the turning point in Yash’s cricket career. He moved to India in a span of three weeks after that.”

The logistics of the transfer have been made simpler by the actual fact that the household had roots in Bangalore. The boys’ father moved to the town 15 years in the past, and so they had spent three months there throughout their summer season holidays annually. “All of our extended family lives in Bangalore, our grandparents live in Bangalore. We both speak fluent Kannada, we speak fluent Tulu. We’re very much from Bangalore in that sense,” says Yodhin.

Once in India, Yash was firmly underneath the Royals’ wing. The franchise not solely remained affected person but additionally supportive whilst Yash accomplished a two-year residency interval to qualify as a neighborhood participant in Karnataka. They ensured he was a daily at RR’s low season camps and coaching classes across the nation, usually bowling to stars like Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag. Then got here a giant break within the Maharaja Trophy, the place enjoying for the Hubli Tigers, Yash completed because the season’s second-highest wicket-taker with 23 scalps in 10 video games.

“He really enjoyed his time with the team and with Vinay Kumar Sir in particular. Devdutt (Padikkal) was also in the same team, so bowling to the likes of him, and taking their input on the way he’s bowling, played a key role in his performance in that tournament. It was also his first time really testing his ability against the cream of the crop within Karnataka, so performing well in that tournament really gave him a heap load of confidence,” remembers Yodhin.

“Yash is the kind of person who believes in himself 100 percent. He knew that if he stuck to his plans he was going to do well, but I think just seeing those results on paper made a big difference for him and eventually for his selection into the IPL as well.”

When the IPL Auction got here round, the Punja brothers watched it collectively. Despite Yash having already spent two years within the Royals camp, there have been no assurances of him getting picked. “It’s either no one tells you that they’re going to pick you or everyone tells you that they’re going to pick you. We were very nervous, very unsure of what was going to happen,” Yodhin explains.

There have been ten seconds of silence earlier than the RR paddle went up and the hammer down. “Obviously we were extremely pleased when he got picked by a franchise like Rajasthan Royals, who are known for grooming youngsters and finding players out of nowhere. They’ve built that kind of reputation for themselves in the last few years,” says Yodhin.

After the leg spinner’s debut, the Royals’ religion in him was additional underlined when Yash performed forward of the extra skilled Ravi Bishnoi in his subsequent three video games. While he picked up a pair extra wickets in opposition to Punjab and one other in opposition to GT, Yodhin believes the very best is but to return. “I know it’s only going to be upwards from here,” he says. “With the right exposure and experience, I don’t think there’s anything coming in his way of eventually playing for India as well, as long as he can continue to stay grounded, have a balanced head on his shoulders, and work hard.”

Four video games in, Yash has bowled practically as many googlies as leg-breaks. The very googly that Yodhin had noticed of their residence hall all these years in the past stays on the coronary heart of a collective brotherly dream.