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Former India's head coach Ravi Shastri drew parallel between the legendary MS Dhoni and Sanju Samson as he believes the Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper's qualities as a leader is similar to the CSK captain.
Samson's Rajasthan are excelling in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) and are placed second in the points table while Dhoni's Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are sitting fourth in the standings riding on their exceptional show.
Shastri was all praise for Samson and lauded his ‘calm and composed’ behaviour which matches with Dhoni. The legendary Dhoni has been leading the CSK's pack since IPL's inception in 2008 while Samson was given the onus captain Rajasthan ahead of IPL 2023.
"Sanju has similar qualities to MS Dhoni. Little I have seen of him or whatever I have seen of him, he is very calm and composed. Even though he doesn't show it, he communicates well with his players. I think the more he does the job, the more he will learn with the experience," Shastri told ESPN Cricinfo.
The former India's star all-rounder also pointed out that Samson was disappointed with RR's performance in their previous two matches which they lost.
"There is an instinctive leader in Sanju. But you could also see he wasn't happy in the last two games underneath that skin. Even though he didn't say it, you could make out from the outside that he wasn't pleased with their batting effort when they could have won the game. At least one game was there for the taking," said Shastri.
It will be interesting to see whether Samson can achieve the same glory as Dhoni did while leading his side in the glitzy league. Dhoni might bid farewell to IPL after this season but Samson has a long way to go.
Dhoni's brigade will next face Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Sunday (April 29) while Samson's men will lock horns with five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) on the same day.
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