'Make Jos Buttler The Rajasthan Royals Captain' - S Sreesanth Calls For Sanju Samson's Sacking

Former India and Rajasthan Royals fast bowler S Sreesanth has opined that Rajasthan Royals (RR) must find a replacement for Sanju Samson as captain. According to Sreesanth, Samson has not performed consistently with the bat in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and added that someone like Jos Buttler who has led England to the T20 World Cup title would be a better option as leader.

Under Sanju Samson’s leadership, Rajasthan Royals finished as runners-up in the 2022 edition of the IPL losing to Gujarat Titans (GT) in the final. They finished fifth in the 2023 season, winning seven and losing seven of their 14 league matches.

Sreesanth commented that the time has come for Rajasthan Royals to look for someone who can replace Samson as captain. “According to me, Rajasthan Royals need to change their system. When I played for Rajasthan Royals, they had complete management. Rahul [Dravid] bhai was the captain. He had a very clear vision, and tactics. He was one of the best captains I have played with,” the former pacer told Sportskeeda.

S Sreesanth Suggests Jos Buttler As New Skipper Replacing Sanju Samson

The 40-year-old pacer questioned Samson’s ability as a leader and his consistency with the bat adding, “Sanju being captain, first of all, he has to take leadership very seriously or make Buttler the captain. At least, Buttler has won a World Cup. Yes, he can do well, but [RR need] someone else who can actually be consistent. You need a captain like Rohit who has the intensity and the consistency or somebody who is consistently winning the matches for the team.”

“As a captain, you need someone who will win matches for you, if not every match, every three-four games. IPL is a big tournament. There are lots of matches, but you can’t rely on somebody who comes out once in a blue moon and scores run,” Sreesanth stated, concluding his thoughts on Samson as leader. 29-year-old Sanju Samson has a mixed record as the skipper of Rajasthan Royals. He has led the franchise in 45 matches, winning 22 and losing 23 matches.

Sanju Samson made his IPL debut in 2013. He has played 152 matches scoring 3888 runs at an average of 29.23 and a strike rate of 137.19 with three hundred and 20 fifties. The aggressive top-order batter slammed 484 runs in 14 matches in the 2021 season and 458 runs in 17 games in the 2022 edition. In IPL 2023, he got 362 runs under his belt in 14 matches at an average of 30.17 and a strike rate of 153.39.

Sanju Samson has been leading Rajasthan Royals full-time since 2020 after Ajinkya Rahane was released by the franchise. Samson has been a really good leader for Rajasthan Royals but the fact cannot be denied that he has not received enough success recently with the bat particularly.