IPL 2022: We will look to play aggressive cricket – Sanju Samson

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson wants his team to play aggressive cricket in IPL 2022.

The inaugural champions had a poor run in the previous season as they could only manage five wins in 14 matches and finished in seventh place in the points table. Thus, the Sanju Samson-led team will be looking to turn the tables in the ongoing season.

Rajasthan Royals have gathered a strong bowling line-up, which could take them far in the tournament. The Royals were able to rope in bowlers like Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ravichandran Ashwin, and Yuzvendra Chahal in IPL 2022 mega auction.

Sanju Samson stated that the main focus of the squad is to get together as soon as possible and make the most of the previous season’s learnings.

“Our main focus is to get together as soon as possible. We have a different squad this time, some new members in the team, so it is important to come together and understand your teammates,” Samson said.

“We definitely had a lot of learning from the last 2-3 seasons. We discussed and worked on a few options and we got a really very good team in the auction,” he said on Monday during a virtual press conference.

Samson feels Rajasthan Royals have good depth in their squad and they have the players to be successful this season.

“We have a lot of Indian and international strength in our team. It’s a very long tournament. We need to understand the mindset and the fitness and form of all players. But we have enough options to play around,” he said.

“I think this format has to be played with a lot of fearless mindsets and that sort of characters are there in this team this year. So we would just like to go out there and express ourselves.”

On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals were able to rope in Lasith Malinga as their bowling coach for IPL 2022. Samson revealed that the veteran along with Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara is adding a lot of value to the team with their inputs.

“It’s great that people like Lasith and Kumar Sangakkara (Director of Cricket) whom we have grown up watching and whom almost every cricketer admire for whatever they had done on the field. They are now just trying to help youngsters like us to understand their game better,” he said.

“Whatever chats we had with Lasith, he makes bowling look very simple and easy and that it gives a lot of clarity for every bowler in the side. He definitely is making a lot of things easier for me as a captain.”

RR will play their IPL 2022 opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday.