Rajasthan Royals (RR) registered a heist of a win over Gujarat Titans (GT) in Match 23 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Sunday, April 16 at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. RR chased down the target of 178 with four balls to spare owing to fiery half-centuries from captain Sanju Samson (60 off 32) and Shimron Hetmyer (56* off 26).
Sanju Samson came out to bat in a precarious situation when his side was reeling at 4/2 after 2.5 overs and was staring down the barrel. However, the 28-year-old helped his team cross the 100-run mark and gave the perfect platform for Hetmyer to complete the finishing job. Following Samson’s heroic knock, legendary Indian commentator pundit Harsha Bhogle called for his selection in the Indian T20I team.
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Bhogle took to Twitter and wrote, “I would play Sanju Samson in the Indian T20 team every day.”
I would play Sanju Samson in the Indian T20 team every day.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 16, 2023
Having made his debut in 2015, Sanju Samson has played just 17 T20Is so far and scored 301 runs at an average of 20.06 with one half-century to his name. The Kerala-born cricketer has also played 11 ODIs scoring 330 runs at an average of 66 with two fifties in his career.
Despite his consistent performances, Sanju Samson has been often ignored by the selectors which have even led to his fans running hashtags in his support on social media platforms. With Rishabh Pant out of the mix for over a year due to injury, the wicketkeeper-batter is again making a strong case for his selection in the team for the ODI World Cup later this year and the next T20 World Cup.
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Returning to the match, playing at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday, 16 April, RR gunned down the target of 178 runs despite being down by 4 wickets for 55 runs in the 11th over of the game. Royals’ skipper, Sanju Samson, and batter Shimron Hetmyer put in exceptional performances to help Royals pull off a brilliant win, that solidified their position at the top of the league table.
