Sanju Samson Departs Rajasthan Royals With Promise To Clinch T20 World Cup

An emotional Sanju Samson left the Rajasthan Royals (RR) camp with a smile on his face, promising to bring the T20 World Cup home for the first time since 2007.

Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 36 runs in Qualifier 2, ending Sanju Samson's side's hopes of securing their first IPL title since 2008 on Friday, May 24.

Royals, who led the table for most of the first half of IPL 2024, had defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Eliminator. They were expected to beat SRH on a spin-friendly MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch, but Shahbaz Ahmed and Abhishek Sharma shared five wickets between them to rattle Rajasthan.

Sanju Samson had led Rajasthan to the final in IPL 2022 but lost to Gujarat Titans on that occasion. This time around, the 29-year-old failed once again to take his team past the winning margin.

In a video shared by Rajasthan Royals, the Kerala-born batter can be seen leaving the team hotel with a heavy heart. As he sat in the car, a person could be heard telling him to bring the T20 World Cup home. Samson nodded with confidence and smiled in response.

Thank you, Captain Samson. June will be for cheering you on from the sidelines! ???????????? pic.twitter.com/zrYBQg944K

Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) May 25, 2024

Sanju Samson scored 531 runs in IPL 2024 and was picked ahead of KL Rahul in India's T20 World Cup 2024 squad. Samson and Rishabh Pant have been named as the two wicketkeeper-batters in the squad.

He did not leave for the USA with the first batch of India players on Saturday. According to The Indian Express, Samson has some personal work to attend to in Dubai and has sought permission from the BCCI for the same.

Upcoming Matches

India will play a warm-up match against Bangladesh on June 1 and kick off their campaign against Ireland on June 5. The Men in Blue will face Pakistan in New York on June 9.