Sanju Samson in post-match presentation ceremony© BCCI/Sportzpics
Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson once again proved his merit in the shortest format of the game, playing a match-winning knock of 71 runs off 33 balls, guiding his team to a victory against Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 on Saturday. Samson, who also has the leadership responsibility of the franchise on his shoulders, has done a phenomenal job in this campaign so far, with the Royals riding at the top of the points table. While the win against LSG has all but secured RR’s position in the playoffs, it’s the T20 World Cup spot as a wicket-keeper that Samson is being talked about the most these days.
For international greats like Kevin Pietersen and Matthew Hayden, there’s no debate over Samson’s position in the 15-man squad. The Kerala batter “has to be” on the plane for the T20 World Cup for them.
“He has to go. There’s no doubt in my mind that he has to be on that aeroplane to the Caribbean and the USA in a couple of weeks. He is doing a lot with the pressure that he is also under as a captain and not being given higher honours. The way he scores runs and the situation he bats in, if I was the selector, he is one of my first picks,” Pietersen said on Star Sports after the conclusion of the RR vs LSG match.
Hayden, who is also working as a pundit on Star Sports for the IPL, said that it’s a sad affair that Samson tends to always get overlooked for national honours. For him too, there’s no doubting that the wicket-keeper batter deserves to be picked for the T20 World Cup.
“With Sanju, he always seems to get overlooked for national honours. I honestly been saying this for a decade, I don’t know why because he is a serious hitter of the ball and if you put him up top, he does the damage through the phases. Tonight was the perfect captain’s knock and guess what, he did it in the end,” Hayden said.
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