Leader, batter and mentor: Samson aces multiple roles

MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals’ previous game against Delhi Capitals was skipper Sanju Samson’s 100th for the franchise. Having started with the Jaipur-based side 2013, it’s a huge volume of cricket that he has played for one team.

And, he sure is proving his value. This season, Samson has eked out five wins in seven games to help RR reach a joint second position.

Three of their last four games have been really close, but Samson ensured his side held its nerve to beat DC by 15 runs, Kolkata Knight Riders by seven runs, and Lucknow Super Giants by three runs.

All of RR’s five wins have come while defending totals. Samson’s handling of R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal has been a delight to watch in those games. Against KKR, Ashwin’s wicket of Andre Russell and Chahal’s scalp of a well-set Shreyas Iyer were results of timing and planning.

With KKR 149/3 in 13.3 overs, the stage was set for Russell to apply the finishing touches, but Ashwin bowled him with a memorable carrom-ball. Then, Samson preyed on Iyer’s weakness against the sweep shot.

He got Chahal to bowl with the square-leg and fine-leg up and challenged the batter to go for the open leg-side field. Iyer took the bait and was leg-before trying to hit the full-length delivery to midwicket.

Samson’s success is all the more creditable because unlike captains of other IPL sides, he is not an established international. RR’s Director Performance Zubin Bharucha, who has seen Samson from the first day at the franchise, says: “Sanju’s biggest strength and asset is he never tries to be somebody else. His leadership style is very authentic, very genuine. He doesn’t put on a show that he is the captain; just goes about his task. You see his personality in his leadership.

“In team discussions, you are allowed to disagree but both parties go away happy. He has ensured that culture where it’s not that I am right or you are wrong.”

At the franchise, the old-timers had seen signs of leadership in Samson’s first season itself when he was just 18-19.

“When he first came, it was very difficult to get him to speak. But he always had the personality because when we lost the Champions League final against Mumbai Indians (October 2013) in Delhi, we were all shattered, there were no words coming out of anybody.

“Strangely he was the only guy who spoke. He showed tremendous maturity at that young age,” remembers Bharucha.

First season as captain Samson’s best

Another impressive facet of Samson is that captaincy has not bogged him down. Instead, his batting has flourished. His first season as captain, in 2021, remains his best IPL season with 484 runs at an average of 40.33. This season too, he is doing well with 201 runs in seven games at 33.50.

The next step in his career is to translate this success to the international level.

He is in a tight contest for the keeper-batter’s role with Rishabh Pant firmly ensconced in that position. KL Rahul, who plays as a pure batter, also acts as a back-up keeper.

However, captain Rohit Sharma has said Samson is in the fray for the T20 World Cup in Australia (October-November).

“His back-foot play is superb, some of the shots you must have seen during the IPL, the pick-up pull, the cut shots, standing and delivering over bowler’s head. Those kind of shots are not easy to play and I believe when we go to Australia, you need that kind of shot-making ability and Samson does have it in him. I just hope that he utilises his potential to the maximum,” Sharma had said in February.

For now, Samson has the tough task of ensuring RR maintain the intensity in the second leg of the tournament, which is where the IPL is won and lost.