From watching Rajasthan Royals (RR) win IPL 2008 on TV to leading the same team to the final of the 2022 season, Sanju Samson has come a long way. In the Qualifier 2 held in Ahmedabad on Friday, his team defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 7 wickets. Also, he also became the second cricketer after the great Shane Warner to lead the Royals in an IPL final.
However, a few days back, the mood in the RR dressing room was not the same. They lost to Gujarat Titans (GT) and needed to fight again for a ticket to the finals. But, the unit was determined to bounce back and they did it in style.
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Speaking about it in the post-match show, Sanju said that the loss against GT was not easy to digest, but the win against RCB was a result of great teamwork.
“It was tough (after the loss in the last game), but we are used to coming back in the tournament. It is very normal in IPL that you fluctuate throughout the tournament. We lost a few games, we knew how to come back and we did really well,” Sanju said on the post-match show.
“We closed the innings really well, with DK and Maxi at the end, we knew what they could do, but having faith in our skills and having the patience helped us succeed. It made it easier to win this game (by winning the toss), the toss plays a huge role and I think the wicket played completely different in the first and second innings.
Jos Buttler equaled his record-fourth century in an IPL season with an unbeaten 106 off 60 balls. His scintillating innings helped Royals move a step closer to their second IPL title.
Sanju reserved a lot of praise for his opener and said, “This is his (Obeid McCoy) first IPL, he is very calm and composed and backs up his strength and we count on him to do really well.” We do. So grateful for a player like Jose, and the way he is batting, touch-wood, we have one more game to go,” he said.
Sanju recalled when RR won the title in the inaugural season. He said that he was playing an Under-16 game in Kerala in 2008 and watched the first IPL final with his friends.
“I was very young and it was the first IPL season and I remember playing an under-16 game somewhere in Kerala and I remember watching the last game with my friends and remember the last run where Shane Warne and Sohail Tanvir scored And they were running, it was a very vague memory that I have,” he said.
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