He may yet not have cracked a regular spot in the Indian national cricket team but Sanju Samson seems to have developed quite a fanbase. Samson, who captains Rajasthan Royals in IPL, proved his caliber in the T20 league with some eye-catching performances over the years whole proving he’s more than a capable leader.
Rajamani Prabhu, fitness trainer of the Rajasthan franchise, has underlined Samson’s loyalty towards his team.
During an interaction with Sports Vikatan, Prabhu revealed that he once asked Samson to make a switch to a big team after the IPL 2021. But the offer hardly made any impact on Samson as he said, “I want to make Rajasthan Royals a big team.”
The IPL 2021 was indeed a season to forget for RR. They managed to win just five out of their 14 league games, finishing seventh in the points table, only ahead of Sunrisers Hyderabad.
But Samson was hopeful of his team making a comeback in the next season.
As revealed by Prabhu, Samson asked the franchise to rope in some “big players” like Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal and Prasidh Krishna in an effort to bolster the squad.
RR agreed with Samson’s suggestion and acquired the service of his preferred players at the 2022 mega auction. The plan worked as the Royals were able to make a roaring comeback in the IPL 2022.
They finished second on the points table and made their way to the final by beating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the second Qualifier.
But Samson and Co failed to get past the final hurdle, losing the summit clash against Gujarat Titans.
Thanks to Samson’s vision and decision-making ability, Prabhu labelled the wicketkeeper-batter as the “second MS Dhoni.”
As per the trainer, Samson spent almost 2 crores of his IPL earnings for the betterment of “domestic players and underprivileged children.”
“Everyone loves Sanju as a person more than him as a player. That’s why he has a huge fanbase,” Prabhu said.
Samson-led Rajasthan though failed to replicate their last season’s performance in IPL 2023. They pulled off a commanding start to the campaign and were among the top four in the initial phase. But they could not continue the momentum in the latter half of the group stage, falling slightly short in the playoffs race.
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