‘The growth I had…’: Chahal names ‘Dhoni like’ Samson ‘favourite’ IPL captain | Cricket

For years, Sanju Samson was criticised for his inconsistency in IPL which eventually reflected in his long wait for an India call up again. But on his return to Rajasthan Royals for a second stint, world cricket witnessed a new version of Samson. He batted with more responsibility and showed more consistency with eventually saw him being rewarded with a promotion to captaincy role, where he excelled as well, taking RR to their first ever IPL final in 2022 since their triumphant run in 2008. (RCB vs RR Live Score, IPL 2023)

Yuzvendra Chahal has played under many captains during his career. For India, he has played under MS Dhoni, Virat Kohli and now Rohit Sharma. In IPL, for eight seasons he played under Kohli at the Royal Challengers Bangalore before making a shift to Rajasthan Royals. And in his two season for the franchise, he has had a close look at Samson and his captaincy and was full of praise for his leadership quality.

Speaking to Humans of Bombay, Chahal snubbed the legendary MS Dhoni, often hailed the best ever captain in IPL to pick Samson as his favourite skipper in the tournament. He also opined that the youngsters is in a lot ways similar to Dhoni in terms of captaincy approach.

“In IPL, Sanju Samson is definitely my favourite. I feel like he is literally very similar to Mahi bhai as like him, he is very calm and chill. The 10 per cent or whatever growth I have had as a bowler in the last year, it is all because of Sanju. He told me, ‘you have four overs, bowl whatever you want to, you are free from my side’,” Chahal said.

During his first season with Rajasthan, Chahal picked 27 wickets under Samson’s captaincy to grab the Purple Cap award. This season, he stands second with 12 strikes in seven innings, at an economy rate of 8.07.

“I think, all three captains whom I have played under, I have gotten that liberty that a bowler requires, whether it’s Mahi bhai, Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma. So yeah, that’s the one thing I have gotten,” Chahal added.