IPL 2021: Sanju Samson hails bowlers after win over KKR

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson has given credit to his bowlers after the inaugural champions defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Saturday. It wasn’t a typical Wankhede pitch and there was some help for the fast bowlers, who were rolling their fingers over the ball.

Chris Morris was the pick of the bowlers for Rajasthan Royals as the South African quick scalped four wickets and conceded only 23 runs in his quota of four overs. Morris got the big wickets of Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell and Pat Cummins, who all had wreaked havoc against CSK in the previous game.

Furthermore, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman and Jaydev Unadkat bagged a wicket each and also bowled economically. KKR were only able to post 133 runs on the board, which was never going to be enough as RR cruised to the victory with seven balls to spare.

On the other hand, Samson also heaped praise on young fast bowler Chetan Sakariya, who has been the find of the season for Rajasthan Royals. Samson is hopeful that Sakariya will win many games for RR in the future. Samson also added that he tries to play according to the match-situation after playing an unbeaten knock of 42 runs from 41 balls and taking his team over the line.

Sanju Samson said in the post-match presentation, “Our bowlers have been doing really well for the last 4-5 matches. There are many options for me to juggle around. Really enjoy captaining them. You could see in his eyes he wanted the competition. He wanted to get the big batsmen out (Morris). Situation of the match demands the way I play. That’s what I’ve learnt from previous years. Even if you bat and score a quick fifty you feel bad if the team doesn’t win. Sakariya is a very different kind of person. Very happy going, very chilled out. Same person inside and outside the ground. Hopefully he will win us more matches in the future. Need to chill down a bit. Have been playing continuous matches from last week. Will take a day off and plan for the next game”. 

Meanwhile, Sanju Samson had also come under scrutiny as former players like Sunil Gavaskar and Gautam Gambhir had questioned his consistency. However, Samson batted with maturity as he didn’t take any chances given the required rate was not high.

RR will now shift their base to Delhi where they will face defending champions Mumbai Indians on 29th April.