Ahead of the fresh Indian Premier League (IPL) season under a new captain, Sanju Samson, Rajasthan Royals’ Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara has hailed the Kerala star as a “great player and a natural-born leader” and said he is excited to see how RR flourishes under him in the IPL 2021.
Rajasthan Royals (RR), the winners of the inaugural season of the IPL 2008, have not yet been able to replicate their success of the first season and even couldn’t make it to the playoffs despite having world-class players in their rank.
Last year in the UAE, Rajasthan Royals (RR) finished at the bottom of the points table with 12 points from 14 matches, winning just six matches in the IPL 2020.
With a hope to turn their fortune in the IPL 2021, RR made a couple of changes in their team – first, they roped in Sri Lanka legend Sangakkara as director of cricket and then released their captain Steve Smith ahead of the auction and named Samson as new captain for the upcoming T20 League.
RR also signed 8 new players at the auction earlier this year in Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya, KC Cariappa, Liam Livingstone, Kuldip Yadav, and Akash Singh for the IPL 14.
Before joining the RR players, Sangakkara has addressed the Royals’ fans on social media and had a Question/Answer session on Twitter, where he backed Samson as captain to do well in the IPL 2021.
Sangakkara said in a video uploaded on RR’s Twitter handle: “Very excited. He is such a great player and a natural-born leader. He has basically grown up in the RR family. It is really exciting for me and everyone to have him as our leader, as our captain.
It is not going to be an easy season; he has a lot on his shoulders. But he is a mature young man, capable of delivering the goods as a leader, and also as one of our leading superstar batsmen.”
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On his plans on bringing a fresh culture into the team and change the mindset of players after the debacle of last season, he said: “It is about training really well. About giving them the right information and giving them the confidence and the trust that once we are set on a cricketing philosophy for the season, in the way we play, in the way we relate to each other, in the way we try and execute game plans and to send the message that making a mistake in the pursuit of that is absolutely fine.”
Sangakkara signed off by saying, “We learn from our mistakes and move on, but we don’t take a backward step. That conversation, that trust has to be built very quickly this season and it something we won’t compromise on.”
