Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has pinned his hopes on the franchise’s most expensive player Chris Morris who was bought for an eye shattering deal of Rs. 16.25 crore. With Rajasthan ailing from pullouts their core international stars, the team finds themselves at a tight spot with just six points from seven matches.
In the pre-match virtual press conference, Samson stated that he has full faith in the ‘biggest match-winner’ Chris Morris and that the franchise have no pressure despite missing the likes of Jos Buttler, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer.
“I would like to say that I have the biggest match-winner sitting alongside me. So, I don’t have any worries. There is no pressure. We all love and enjoy playing with Chris. With Chris in our side, I feel that happy days are ahead of us,” Samson said with Morris alongside him in the press conference.
Morris, who had a great outing back in 2020 with the Royal Challengers Bangalore was picked up by Rajasthan as his stocks rose in world cricket for his leadership skills and personality. While his recruitment has not exactly turned Royals’ ship around, but the all-rounder himself has had a decent outing with 14 wickets from 7 matches.
Speaking about his role in the Rajasthan squad, Morris explained that it is his job to keep the guys calm and relay the important information to his captain Samson.
“My role as an experienced player is to keep the guys calm. I will stand at mid-on or mid-off and have a chat with the other bowlers. If I pick something up, I will relay the message to Sanju. I have been doing this role for the whole of my career. Irrespective of whether the other experienced guys are there or not in the team, I do it. I will definitely help Sanju,” Morris spoke about his duties.
Rajasthan have a steep road ahead of them if they want to qualify for the playoffs and will be looking beyond Morris in this second leg of the Indian Premier League. They will hope for their captain to come good along with new recruits like Liam Livingstone and Tabraiz Shamsi, who have both set world cricket on fire in the last year.
Rajasthan play their first match on Tuesday, 21 September against Punjab Kings in the Dubai International Stadium.