Dravid spotted Samson at nets during RR's trials.
Indian wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson has recently shared a heart-warming and fond memory relating his former Rajasthan Royals captain and India A coach Rahul Dravid.
Samson hogged the limelight during his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) season in 2013 at the age of 18, when he played under the captaincy Dravid, by scoring more than 206 runs including a fifty which made him the youngest player to score a half-century in the premier T20 tournament.
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However, Samson's maiden IPL season with RR was also the last year for Dravid as a player and captain, but their association with the Royals was continued, as the Kerala lad became a batting mainstay for the side while the batting legend served as the head coach. Samson also got the chance to be under the wings of Dravid during his Delhi Capital stint.
Well, Samson is still associated with the RR and recently recalled how Dravid himself walked up to him and asked if he wanted to join the Royals during RR’s trials in 2013, saying it was a "dream come true" for the wicket-keeper batsman.
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Samson said on the RR podcast with spin consultant Ish Sodh: “Rahul bhai and Zubin Bharucha were supervising the trials for Rajasthan Royals. I played a really good knock there, at the end of the second day, Rahul bhai came to me and asked: “Would you play for my team?”. It was like a dream for me, to have Rahul bhai come and ask me to play for him,”
He continued, “At the IPL also I didn’t play the first six games. I would always talk to him (Dravid) and other senior players like Watson, Hodge and learn from them. Even today if I call him and ask for help, he’s always there to help me. Rahul sir is the most modest person I have ever met who is available for every cricketer at any time,”
Noteworthy, Samson has scored 2209 runs in 93 matches in the IPL so far.
(With Times of India Inputs)