"He played selfless cricket" - Saba Karim lauds Sanju Samson's performances in IPL 2022

Sanju Samson gave a decent account of himself in IPL 2022 [P/C: iplt20.com]

Former Indian wicketkeeper Saba Karim has lauded Sanju Samson for playing a selfless brand of cricket in IPL 2022.

Samson amassed 458 runs at an acceptable average of 28.62 and an impressive strike rate of 146.79 in the recently concluded edition of the Indian Premier League. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper led his side to the IPL 2022 final but could not help them win their second title in the prestigious league.

During a discussion on India News, Saba was all praise for Samson, saying:

"Sanju Samson has reinvented himself this time. He played selfless cricket. His attempt is only that he should keep his strike rate high, score runs and attack the best bowlers, which he did in quite a few matches."

While acknowledging that Samson failed to deliver in some crunch encounters, Saba reckons the captaincy has improved the 27-year-old's consistency with the bat. He elaborated:

"I agree there have been one or two instances where he has not scored the runs that were required on the big occasion but the finesse and timing are seen in Samson's batting. I feel his batting has improved because of captaincy and he has become a more consistent performer."

Sanju Samson in #IPL2022
Innings - 17
Runs - 458
SR - 146.79|Avg. - 28.63
50s - 2
6s - 26 | 4s - 43
Catches - 14
Stumping - 2

And as a leader he has been phenomenal throughout the season

Dear @BCCI, This man deserves more chances in Indian cricket team 🙏🏻 https://t.co/DMhs1H6D4k

Samson has tended to throw away his wicket when looking all set to play a substantial knock. Even in the final, he got his eye in but was dismissed while playing an ungainly shot off Hardik Pandya's bowling, resultantly giving the upper hand to the Gujarat Titans (GT) in the encounter.

"He made a mistake in one or two matches" - Saba Karim on Sanju Samson not batting at No. 3 in a few matches

Sanju Samson scored two half-centuries in IPL 2022 [P/C: iplt20.com]

However, Saba Karim was slightly critical of Samson for holding himself back in the batting order on a few occasions. He explained:

"He made a mistake in one or two matches that he kept himself down the order, and don't know why he sent R Ashwin ahead of him. In my opinion, if anyone had to go to bat after Jos Buttler at No. 3, it was Sanju Samson. Here Samson held himself back quite a few times, which according to me was not right."

This is of why Rajasthan keep promoting Ashwin, not for the good days, but for making the batting order one slot longer on the bad ones. When Buttler does Buttler, it doesn't matter. In this knock everything went wrong except one hitter (and Ashwin's cameo).

The Rajasthan Royals opted to promote Ravichandran Ashwin in the batting order a few times in an attempt to add depth to their batting. They opted to go that route as they generally did not have an accomplished all-rounder in their playing XI, usually going in with six specialist batters and five frontline bowlers.