On Monday night at the Wankhede Stadium during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 match between Rajasthan Royals and Punjab Kings, the young Sanju Samson could not have done any wrong. The new captain for Rajasthan Royals, Samson produced an innings which plenty of batsmen desire to play but they either do not get such an opportunity, or things just do not fall in the right place for them.
But Samson, who waged a lone battle on Monday night against Punjab Kings, smacking 119 from 63 balls in an innings where the next highest score was of 25 from two different batsmen, saw his innings of the highest of quality and gumption ever seen going in vain as his side lost the contest by a close margin.
The right-handed batsman hit an overall on 12 fours and 7 sixes during his stay at the crease and somewhat controversially, when Rajasthan needed 5 runs to win from the final 2 balls, Samson refused to give strike to IPL’s costliest player Chris Morris. On the final ball, Samson was caught near the ropes as Rajasthan suffered a four-run defeat.
But former Sri Lanka captain and the current director of cricket, Kumar Sangakkara has backed the decision of Samson to not let Morris take the strike on the final ball.
Sangakkara said during the post-match conference,
“I think Sanju backed himself to get the job done and he nearly did. He was five or six yards short of hitting the last ball for a six and sometimes when you know you’re hitting the ball well and you’re in form and you believe that you can do it, you’ve got to take that responsibility. And it was really encouraging to see Sanju do that.
“We can always talk about a missed single here or there but the crucial thing for me is the players’ belief in attitude and commitment and they know what their strengths are. And Sanju took it upon himself to finish that game and he just fell a few yards short. That happens, but the next time I’ll believe he’ll hit it that 10 yards further to win us the game,”
Sangakkara added.