Rajasthan Royals’ Captain Sanju Samson Opens Up on 'Playing Cricket in the World's Best Country'

Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals’ captain, meet and interacted with over 2000 students and engage them in candid conversations in the latest edition of ‘Star Nahi Far’ held in Kochi.

Ahead of the start of the IPL 2024 season, Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson shared insights into his journey with the franchise and his approach to leadership. Sanju said: “I think that happened before this season. I think we were playing in Dubai, and our lead owner, Manoj Badale, came up to me and asked whether I’m ready to lead the side. I said I am ready. So that was it, it was as simple as that, and I felt like I’ve played enough number of matches and I’ve spent enough time in this franchise to know that I can do that role, and I was confident that I could do it. And I was very happy that things are going good.”

Samson emphasised his desire to stand out through his batting style and performance. He revealed a shift in mindset towards adopting a more aggressive approach, aiming to unleash power strokes from the outset of his innings. He said “I think when you are playing cricket in the world’s best country, which I think is number 1 in the whole world, I think the number of players who play and the number of talent we have and the level of competition which we have, a guy from Kerala, if he has to come and cement his place in the national side, he has to do something special, so I just always wanted to be special.”

“I always wanted to stand out with the way I bat. I just wanted to create my own style of batting and no matter even if it was the first ball, I just want to go out there and hit a six. So, that’s a shift in the mindset that I had and I just wanted to do something different like why do we have to wait for 10 balls to hit a six? If I feel like I do it at the first ball and that was the motive behind the development of my power stroke I was putting lots and lots of effort and time and I think a lot of people helped me, lots of things goes behind the scenes which only I only know and my close people know so I’m very happy that things are coming on nice and as you know the grind keeps on going. Actually, I’m never satisfied I want to keep on and go on doing something spectacular for the side I play for,” Sanjnu Samson added.