Ravi Shastri makes huge statement on Sanju Samson; 'He has qualities like MS Dhoni'

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri heaped praises on Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson after they earned a 32-run victory over Chennai Super Kings earlier this week. Shastri compared Samson to the legendary MS Dhoni, highlighting the similarities in their leadership style. As of Sunday morning, RR and CSK are on equal points with five wins and three losses for both teams so far in the season. 

Meanwhile, speaking to ESPNcricinfo, Ravi Shastri said, “Sanju has similar qualities to MS Dhoni. 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. 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”.

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“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,” added Shastri. Meanwhile, the MS Dhoni-led Chennai Super Kings are up against Punjab Kings in match 41 of IPL 2023 on Sunday. 

IPL: Top four battles in focus at Indian Premier League 2023

On the other hand, Sanju Samson's Rajasthan Royals will face Mumbai Indians in the second matchup for the day. Heading in to Sunday’s action, RR and CSK have the chance to return with wins and rise to the top of the IPL 2023 points table. While Gujarat Titans lead the standings with 12 points, RR are second with 10 points and an NRR of +0.939, whereas CSK are fourth with an NRR of +0.376.

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Chennai Super Kings IPL 2023 Squad

Chennai Super Kings: MS Dhoni (c), Devon Conway, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Ambati Rayudu, Subhranshu Senapati, Moeen Ali, Shivam Dube, Rajvardhan Hangargekar, Dwaine Pretorius, Mitchell Santner, Ravindra Jadeja, Tushar Deshpande, Matheesha Pathirana, Simarjeet Singh, Deepak Chahar, Prashant Solanki, Maheesh Theekshana, Ajinkya Rahane, Ben Stokes, Shaik Rasheed, Nishant Sindhu, Sisanda Magala (replacement), Ajay Mandal, Bhagath Varma, Akash Singh\

Rajasthan Royals IPL 2023 Squad

Rajasthan Royals: Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Devdutt Padikkal, Jos Buttler, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Obed McCoy, Navdeep Saini, Kuldeep Sen, Kuldip Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, KC Cariappa, Jason Holder, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Adam Zampa, KM Asif, Murugan Ashwin, Akash Vashisht, Abdul P A, Joe Root