Sanju Samson, on Wednesday, was named the Rajasthan Royals’ skipper, replacing Steve Smith, after the Indian Premier League franchise, along with the seven others, announced the list of the retained and released cricketers ahead of the IPL 2021 auction.
The stylish right-hander joined RR in 2013 and has thus far played 79 games for RR, scoring 1907 of his 2584 IPL runs. Samson, who was RR’s leading run-getter (375 runs from 14 matches) in IPL 2020, said he was “honoured” to be leading the side which is “close to his heart”.
“It’s an absolute honour to have been announced as the captain of Rajasthan Royals. It’s a team that is so close to my heart, which I’ve been lucky enough to play for over the years, and I’m excited about the challenge that lies ahead of me as the leader of the team,” said Sanju.
With Wednesday’s announcement, Sanju became the third Indian after Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane to lead the RR unit and the Kerala and India cricketer said that he has learnt from the likes of Dravid, Rahane, Shane Watson and Smith – who have led RR.
“The Royals have had some wonderful captains over the years and I’m so grateful for all the time I’ve spent working with and learning from great leaders like Rahul Dravid, Shane Watson, Ajinkya Rahane and Steve Smith!! I now cannot wait to get started and look forward to the season ahead,” said Sanju.
