Sanju Samson: The Cricketer Defying Stats and Winning Hearts for Rajasthan Royals
Sanju Samson with Shane Warne (Twitter/@IamSanjuSamson)
In cricket, stats play an important role to gauge the quality of a player. However, stats can be misleading sometimes and there are some players that are just beyond the usual stats. One such charismatic cricketer is - Sanju Samson. The man has seen plenty of ups and downs in his career but his craze among the fans has brought him almost a cult status and it all started when an 18-year talented kid walked into the Rajasthan Royals setup under the shadow of his mentor Rahul Dravid. That year was 2013 and Samson over the years has slowly and steadily become an inseparable part of the Rajasthan Royals family.
In his debut season for Rajasthan Royals, Samson played some sparkling little knocks that made everyone sit up and notice his rare talent. Samson was soon termed as a future superstar and though his stats as a whole were not the best in the tournament, he still was a big asset for Rajasthan Royals.
His calm and unfussed attitude towards the game also resonated with the philosophy of Rajasthan Royals and after a two year stint with a Delhi Franchise, Samson was again back for Rajasthan for the 2018 season. He scored 441 runs at a strike rate of 137.81 which included some mesmerising match-winning knocks and since then RR's love story with Sanju Samson has flowered beautifully.
Sanju's swashbuckling charismatic batting continued in the following season as Sanju continued to be high-impact cricketer for Rajasthan both on and off the field. The brand value of Rajasthan Royals started getting associated with Sanju and it was just the matter of time before the Kerala-born was made the leader of the side.
It happened finally in 2021 when the world was in desperate search for some moments of happiness amid the gloom created by Covid-19. Samson probably was aware of it and started his captaincy stint with a bang by smashing one of the most memorable centuries in the IPL against Punjab Kings. He scored close to 500 runs in that season but it was in the next season where Sanju Samson the leader arrived. He played a number of impact knocks in the 2022 season and took his team to the grand-finale which took the legend of Sanju Samson to another level - As the Sanju Samson buzz took the internet by storm.
In recent times, there have been some intense calls for his inclusion in the Indian side and while the chances in the national side have been limited, the man's stature in Indian cricket has grown at a rapid's pace. He is the heart and soul of Rajasthan Royals (If not the whole country) and we just hope that this beautiful love story between Sanju Samson and Rajasthan Royals flourishes for the years to come - HALLA BOL!
 "Aashay")
