"Younger brother, elder brother sort of a relationship" - Ravichandran Ashwin on his bond with Sanju Samson

Veteran Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin in his interaction with Star Sports, spoke through about his bonding with Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson. Both of them come from the Southern part of India – Ashwin from Tamil Nadu and Samson from Kerala. Ashwin revealed that they share a very good bond and that Sanju has a very different personality off the field.

The duo will be reunited in the upcoming IPL 2024 season but before that Star Sports have given us some precious content. In that interview, Ravichandran Ashwin was asked to describe one thing about Sanju Samson that people don’t know about. And turns out that we actually didn’t know that the wicket-keeper batsman also has a funny side to him. The 29-year-old often looks very serious and very calm when he’s on the field but Ashwin claims he is the total opposite when not playing a match.

Watch – Laugh and Riot is the kind of bonding Ravichandran Ashwin and Sanju Samson share

Despite coming from Trivandrum, Kerala, Ashwin said that Sanju Samson is actually a very good Tamil speaker. Ashwin also disclosed that the duo are equal in terms of being a Tamil cinema buff and that Sanju understands Tamilian humor quite well.

#SanjuSamson = funny? 😮@ashwinravi99 talks about his @rajasthanroyals captain and how they bond like brothers off the field and professionals on it!

Will the c Samson b Ashwin combination light up the #IPLOnStar season?

Be sure to watch IPL on Star Sports from MARCH 22. pic.twitter.com/X8XAbjuAd5

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) March 4, 2024

Ravichandran Ashwin who recently completed 500 Test wickets, also disclosed that they are like brothers off the field but all of that switches off when they step out on the field for cricketing matters.

“The one thing about Sanju is, he is extremely funny off the field. I’m not sure a lot of people understand that or probably know that. It’s a problem of perception, a lot of people battle, how you see someone on the ground and how they are off it, it’s completely different.” 

“Sanju speaks Hindi, Sanju speaks Malayalam, Sanju speaks Tamil and we connect a lot, I’m a Tamil cinema buff and we connect there. He gets humor. A lot of people who speak Tamil and are not natively from Chennai or somewhere inside the state, don’t get the internal humor because a lot of humor comes from the movies,” Ashwin said. 

“And because Sanju watches so much of cinema, he gets it and we straightaway bond there. It is a lot of Laugh and Riot. For me when I see Sanju off the field, we are mostly having a conversation away from cricket, and on the field, I try and give him inputs as I see how the game is panning out, “Ashwin added.

“However that relationship off the field, doesn’t come on the field. It is generally an elder brother-younger brother sort of relationship off it. On the field, we are able to switch it and be complete professionals. I do what he wants and I give my inputs and he takes what he wants and gets on with it,” Ravichandran Ashwin concluded. 

Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2024

RR full squad: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Kunal Rathore, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Prasidh Krishna, Sandeep Sharma, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Avesh Khan, Rovman Powell, Shubham Dubey, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Abid Mushtaq, Nandre Burger.