IPL 2021: I Just Love Sanju Samson Every Single Year, Says Kevin Pietersen

Kevin Pietersen has lauded Sanju Samson for his magnificent batting against Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. The former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen said that he just loves Sanju Samson in every edition of IPL. Sanju Samson smashed a century in Rajasthan Royals‘ first match against Punjab Kings in IPL 2021. The Rajasthan Royals’ skipper scored 119 runs off just 63 balls, smashing 12 fours and 7 sixes on the way.

Sanju Samson, who impressed with his batting during last season too, was nominated as the new skipper for Rajasthan Royals. The wicket-keeper batsman Samson could not bag the winning runs against Punjab Kings even after his century. Rajasthan Royals lost the match by 4 runs to Punjab Kings.

I Just Love Sanju Samson Every Single Year: Kevin Pietersen

During a conversation with Betway, Kevin Pietersen praised Sanju Samson for his batting technique.

“The standard has been set, once again, by the Indian youngsters. I just love Sanju Samson every single year. I’m just in absolute awe of the way he plays his shots and the time that he has to play shots. His century against the Punjab Kings was absolutely magnificent and he was very unlucky not to get his side over the line,” Kevin Pietersen said.

Pietersen, who has played for teams like Royal Challengers Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils, and Rising Pune Supergiants in IPL, also said that consistency is an issue with Sanju Samson.

“I talked about it a lot on commentary last year, but it’s all about consistency with Samson. He has a tendency to go missing in the middle of the tournament. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, and we don’t want this to be the only innings worth talking about for a few weeks, so we should be wary that he only scored four in Rajasthan’s second match against Delhi Capitals,” Kevin Pietersen further said.

Talking about Sanju Samson’s captainship, Pietersen said that his responsibilities have gone to another level. He also said that Samson will need to fill the vacant spot left by Ben Stokes in the batting.

“His responsibilities are going to another level now that he is the Royals’ captain, though, and he must also cover the hole left by Ben Stokes in that batting line-up. As captain you start thinking about others as well as yourself, which can go one of two ways.

“You can lose your basics and go off the boil, but it can also liberate you because you’re not constantly thinking about your own game”, Pietersen added.

Ben Stokes injured his finger in the first game of IPL 2021 against Punjab Kings. As a result, he needed to undergo surgery and was ruled out of IPL 2021. Sanju Samson smashed a century in the first match but only scored 5 runs in the next two games.

Moreover, Rajasthan Royals have also lost 2 matches out of 3 so far so Sanju Samson and co. will need to pull their socks up in the upcoming matches of IPL 2021.