"I met him recently, he firmly believes he can come back within 6-to-8 months" - Sreesanth reveals his conversation with RR skipper Sanju Samson
Former Indian pacer S.Sreesanth revealed his conversation with former Kerala teammate Sanju Samson following the Rajasthan Royals' (RR) disappointing campaign in this year's IPL.
RR endured a disastrous second half of the season following an impressive start where they won four of their first five games. They lost six of the last nine games to finish fifth on the points table and miss out on playoff qualification.
Samson has played under Sreesanth's captaincy at the Under-14 level, and the duo were also teammates for the Royals in 2013. Speaking to Star Sports, the 40-year-old Sreesanth said:
"I support Sanju because he played under my captaincy in U-14. In the past 4-5 years, when I see him as a cricketer, I've always told him to perform in first-class cricket, not just IPL. Produce consistent performances. Ishan Kishan, and Rishabh Pant -- both were and still are ahead of him. Pant is not there, but he will make a comeback. I met him recently, he firmly believes he can come back within 6-to-8 months."
Sanju Samson had another inconsistent season with the bat, scoring 362 runs at an average of 30.17 and a strike rate of 153.39.
Despite a solid start to the season with the bat, Samson faded away towards the backend of the tournament with scores of four and two in the final two games.
After leading RR to the IPL 2023 final, the franchise was one of the overwhelming favorites to go one step further and capture the silverware this year.
However, their elimination from the playoff qualification has left plenty of question marks over Samson's captaincy and batting inconsistencies.
"Gavaskar sir told him, 'give yourself at least 10 balls" - Sreesanth expresses disappointment over Sanju Samson's batting
S Sreesanth was highly critical of Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson's inability to fine-tune his batting to achieve greater consistency.
Renowned for his ability to throw his wicket away after good starts, the 28-year-old Samson scored only three half-centuries in 14 games for RR this season.
Sreesanth expressed his frustration at Sanju Samson's lack of flexibility in batting style by saying:
"But in this IPL, the way Sanju got out in 2-3 matches straight... Gavaskar sir told him, 'give yourself at least 10 balls. Read the wicket. We know you have a lot of talent, even if you have 0 runs in 12 balls, you can score 50 in 25'. When RR lost in one of their last matches in the league phase, Sanju said, 'no, my style is to play like this only'. I couldn't digest that."
Despite possessing batting talent in abundance, Sanju Samson has averaged only 21.14 in 16 T20Is for Team India and did not feature in India's T20 squad for the latest series against New Zealand.
The RR captain also averages below 30 in his overall IPL career and has 23 50+ scores in 152 games.