The former Indian cricketer S Sreesanth blasted Sanju Samson for ignoring Sunil Gavaskar's advice during the ongoing Indian Premier League 2023 (IPL). Samson's Rajasthan Royals failed to qualify for playoffs in IPL 2023 as they finished the league stages in the fifth position with just seven wins in 14 games. Samson's individual performance with a bat also came under scrutiny as the last season's runner-up produced below average campaign.
Samson-led Royals started their campaign by recording four wins in the opening five games. Samson, Jos Buttler, and Yashasvi Jaiswal recorded the fifties in the first game against Sunrisers Hyderabad to raise fans' hopes for another successful campaign. But Samson and Buttler failed to replicate the consistency they displayed last season. Buttler recorded five ducks while Samson scored runs at an average of 30.16 as Rajasthan heavily relied on Jaiswal's form this season.
Samson failed to deliver in the last two crucial league games as he lost his wicket cheaply while attempting a big shot from the beginning. Now, the former Indian pacer Sreesanth has revealed that the legendary Indian batter Sunil Gavaskar advised Samson to take a few balls to settle instead of going ballistic from the first ball. But according to Sreesanth, Rajasthan's captain said no to the former Indian skipper and that left him in shock. However, Sreesanth also revealed that Samson has fallen behind Rishabh Pant and Ishan Kishan in the pecking order for the Indian national team but is confident of making a comeback in the near future.
"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.
“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,” S Sreesanth told Star Sports on Friday.
