File photo of MS Dhoni (left) and Sanju Samson.© BCCI
Former India captain Ravi Shastri has drawn similarity between the captaincy of Sanju Samson and MS Dhoni. Shastri feels that the qualities of Samson as a leader are similar to that of Dhoni. The ex-India all-rounder lauded Samson for his “calm and composed” behaviour. Currently, both Samson and Dhoni are playing in IPL 2023. While the younger one is leading the Rajasthan Royals team, the elder one is capatining Chennai Super Kings. Dhoni has been leading CSK since 2008, but Samson was passed RR’s capaincy baton ahead of IPL 2021.
“Sanju has similar qualities to MS Dhoni,” Shastri told ESPN Cricinfo.
“Little I have seen of him or whatever I have seen of him, he is very calm and composed. Even though he doesn’t show it, he communicates well with his players. I think the more he does the job, the more he will learn with the experience,” he added.
RR have won five of the eight matches played so far in IPL 2023. In their most recent game, the side defeated Chennai Super Kings by 32 runs that put an end to their two-match losing streak. They had suffered the defeats while chasing totals.
Shastri feels that Sanju was not happy with the team’s performance during the two defeats.
“There is an instinctive leader in Sanju. But you could also see he wasn’t happy in the last two games underneath that skin. Even though he didn’t say it, you could make out from the outside that he wasn’t pleased with their batting effort when they could have won the game. At least one game was there for the taking,” said Shastri.
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