Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan Royals (RR) faltered in the IPL 2023 despite having some momentum early on in the tournament and failed to recreate the successful run which they had in IPL 2022 when they qualified for the final.
Samson himself didn’t have a good time with the bat, but he has led the Rajasthan franchise well, as evident from the support the team gets every time Sanju comes out for the toss and to bat.
He joined the franchise for the first time in 2013 and then in 2018 and was elevated to the captaincy in IPL 2021. Since then he has been considered to be one of the most astute captains in the league with the team doing better every season.
Now RR trainer Rajamani Prabhu has claimed that there Samson had the opportunity to join a different team but he decided to stay put with RR due to his loyalty.
Furthermore, Prabhu revealed that when he told Samson that he should sign with a big team, he said that he wants to make RR a big team by bringing in big players.
"I told Sanju Samson to join some big teams in IPL after 2021 but he replied that I want to make Rajasthan Royals a big team, he further told that let's bring big players like Ashwin, Chahal, Prasidh into the team. He has the vision," he said on Sports Vikatan.
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Rajamani also revealed that Samson had captaincy offers from three IPL franchises but he turned them down.
"Before the 2022 Auction, Sanju Samson got a captaincy offer from three big IPL franchises. He stayed in RR because of his commitment and loyalty. I can bet you that 99% of players would've jumped boats with the kind of offer he had on his plate," he revealed.
Samson's present salary at Rajasthan Royals is INR 15 crore. According to the franchise’s trainer, the wicket-keeper batter spends at least Rs 2 crore of it helping domestic players.
"Sanju Samson gets around 15 Cr per season, as far as I know, he is spending a minimum of Rs. 2 cr to help domestic players and children with great talent. More than the player Sanju, everyone wants the good human Sanju to be successful. That's why he has such a huge fan base," the trainer claimed.