Former Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis reflected on this Sanju Samson's Moved to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after spending 11 seasons at Rajasthan Royals (RR). The Kerala wicketkeeper-batsman, who recently won the Player of the Tournament award in India's victorious T20 World Cup campaign, joined the five-time champions via a trade that saw Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran heading to the Royals.
Du Plessis said that Samson's move is huge, as he has become the face of the Rajasthan Royals franchise, has spent so much time and also led them from 2021 to 2025.
“If I look at the IPL and the teams, the prestigious teams we see around the league, there is a common Indian player, someone who has been the face of the franchise for a while, Rohit Sharma, MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli. And for me, Sanju Samson was that guy at Rajasthan Royals,” Du Plessis said while speaking on JioHotstar's 'Game Plan – Know Your Team'.
He said, “Yes, he is of the new generation, but he had become the face of that franchise. If I think of Rajasthan Royals, I think of Sanju Samson. So, the fact that they have lost that face, I think it is a huge thing for the fans, for the IPL and for the tournament, because he played such a big role there.”
When you have the consistency of Sanju's runs, it allows you to play your game: Faf du Plessis on Yashasvi Jaiswal
Faf du Plessis said that Samson leaving the Royals could put additional pressure on Yashasvi Jaiswal. The legendary cricketer said that Jaiswal will have to choose whether to play his natural game or bat deep in the innings to score big numbers of runs for the inaugural champions.
“The thing with Yashasvi Jaiswal is that he has Sanju Samson, who has been such a big, consistent performer within that batting line-up. So, when you have Sanju's consistency of runs, it allows you to play your game. Now, you take that away, suddenly, people will look at him with more responsibility. And for a player like him, you don't want him to think about the responsibility, you want him to think, 'I can play the game. I want to take it forward. I want to hit as many sixes as possible,” said the former South African captain.
“So there's going to be a learning curve in his career this season, 'Do I stay true to the game I've always played, or do I play the role of a senior player to score more runs?' So it will be interesting to see how that turns out. I think he'll still play the way he plays. It would be foolish not to do so, because he is an aggressive player,” he concluded.
The Royals will begin their campaign on March 30, when they take on the Super Kings at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati.
Get every cricket update! Follow us: :
Leave a Reply