SRH vs RR: Watch - Sanju Samson declares himself 'best player' after kicking aside Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag

Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson snubbed his IPL teammates Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag when asked to choose between himself and the latter duo. 

Sanju Samson, who will be in action later tonight in IPL 2024's 2nd qualifier match, made this claim during an interaction with school students. Both Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag have been important players for Rajasthan over the last couple of years and that's why Samson wanted to remain on the safe side. 

While Jos Buttler has left the Royals camp, Riyan Parag played a key role in his team's 4-wicket victory over the RCB in the Eliminator match 2 days ago. Parag had scored 36 off 26 balls during the tricky run-chase that has become at the Narendra Modi stadium. Sanju Samson had a rusty night out as he departed for a score of just 17 off 13. 

Watch Sanju Samson's interaction with school students 

In the build-up to IPL 2024, official broadcasters Star Sports were visiting schools around the country along with an IPL star. In one of the schools, Sanju Samson had hopped in for a chat with the future generation. Therein, he had a fun time but there was one student who had made things a bit difficult for Sanju with her question. 

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by ROYAL RAJASTHAN (@nightmare_royals)

She asked him to choose from the 3 cricketers she would name - Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson, and Riyan Parag. The Rajasthan Royals captain knew that he had been asked a tricky question so he first told the student that she was very clever. Then Samson would admit that Jos and Riyan would both feel bad if he named anyone of them so he chose to be on the safe side. 

Therefore, Sanju Samson named himself as the best among the three choices. 

"Who do you think is the best player - Jos Buttler, you yourself or Riyan Parag." - the student asked. "You guys are very canny. If I say Jos then Riyan will get angry and if I say Riyan then Jos will feel bad. Let me say Sanju Samson only," Samson replied. 

If we talk about the three players' individual seasons in IPL 2024, then Riyan Parag has been the best of them all. He is currently the third-highest run scorer of the tournament and has the chance of adding more to his 567 runs at a strike rate of 151.60 including 4 half-centuries with a best of 84*. 

Sanju Samson currently stands 6th in the list with 521 runs from 15 matches at a strike rate of 155 and has 5 half-centuries to his name with a best of 86. Lastly, Jos Buttler who played just 11 games this season and scored 359 runs at a 140 strike rate, didn't score a half-century but had two full centuries to his name. 

Why did Jos Buttler leave IPL 2024 mid-way?

Jos Buttler could have certainly scored if he hadn't left the IPL 2024 in the crunch phase. The opening batter, who captains England, returned back home for National duty to take on Pakistan for a 4-match T20I series ahead of their title defense at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.