Former India and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler S Sreesanth has opined that Rajasthan Royals (RR) must find a replacement for Sanju Samson as captain. According to Sreesanth, Samson has not performed consistently with the bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and added that someone like Jos Buttler, who led England to the T20 World Cup title, would be a better option as a leader.
Under the leadership of Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals finished as runners-up in the 2022 edition of the IPL, losing to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final. They finished fifth in the 2023 season, winning seven and losing seven of their 14 league games.
Sreesanth commented that the time has come for Rajasthan Royals to look for someone who can replace Samson as captain. “In my opinion, Rajasthan Royals need to change their system. When I played for Rajasthan Royals, they had a complete management. Raul [Dravid] bhai was the captain. He had a very clear vision and tactics. He was one of the best captains I have played with,” the former pacer told Sportskeeda.
S Sreesanth suggests Jos Buttler as new captain to replace Sanju Samson
The 40-year-old pacer questioned Samson’s ability as a leader and his consistency with the bat and added: “Sanju, being captain, first of all, he has to take leadership very seriously or make Buttler the captain. At least Butler has won a World Cup. Yes, he can do it well, but [RR need] someone else who can really be consistent. “You need a captain like Rohit, who has intensity and consistency, or someone who wins matches for the team consistently.”
“As captain, you need someone to win games for you, if not every game, then every three or four games. The IPL is a great tournament. There are a lot of matches, but you can’t trust someone who goes out every now and then and scores goals,” stated Sreesanth, concluding his thoughts on Samson as a leader. Sanju Samson, 29, has a mixed record as captain of Rajasthan Royals. He has led the franchise in 45 games, winning 22 and losing 23 games.
Sanju Samson made his IPL debut in 2013. He has played 152 matches scoring 3888 runs at an average of 29.23 and a strike rate of 137.19 with three hundreds and 20 fifties. The aggressive top-order batsman scored 484 runs in 14 matches in the 2021 season and 458 runs in 17 games in the 2022 edition. In IPL 2023, he got 362 runs to his credit in 14 matches at an average of 30.17 and a strike rate of 153.39.
Sanju Samson has been leading Rajasthan Royals full-time since 2020 after the franchise released Ajinkya Rahane. Samson has been a really good leader for Rajasthan Royals, but there is no denying the fact that he has not had enough success with the bat recently.