Rajasthan Royals (RR) failed to make it to the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 final as they suffered a comprehensive 36-run loss to Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). While Sanju Samson blamed batters for lack of application against the spinners in the middle overs, he lauded pacer Sandeep Sharma for a splendid season and compared him to India's fast-bowling spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
“I'm very happy for him. By not being picked from the auction and coming as a replacement, he has done awesome. He will be the next guy after Bumrah if you see his numbers, economy and so all,” Samson said in the post-match presentation.
Sandeep was picked as replacement for an injured Prasidh Krishna. Sandeep played 11 games and bagged 13 wickets in IPL 2024. His economy rate in the season is 8.18 runs per over. In the Qualifier 2, he was exception. In his quota of four overs, he bagged two crucial wickets and conceded just 25 runs. He got the wickets of dangerous Travis Head and Heinrich Klaasen.
Samson lauded his bowlers’ effort against a big-hitting SRH lineup. He also credited SRH for using their spinners well.
“Proud of our bowlers, but we were short in the middle overs. (No dew) Very hard to guess when we are expecting dew. Wicket behaved differently in the second innings, ball was turning. Their use of spin against our right-handed batsmen was good,” he said.
Samson points out batters’ mistake
Samson feels that the batters could have used reverse-sweep against the spinners. He backed Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel to do well for India as well.
“Left-arm spin vs right-handers in the middle-order.... when the ball was turning, we could've used reverse sweep or used our feet, but they bowled well. We've had some brilliant games, we've had a great project as a franchise, we've produced some great talent for the country. Parag, Jurel, exciting not only for RR but for India team too,” he added.
Samson lost his wicket to left-arm spinner Abhishek Sharma. He came in to bat in the fifth over after Tom Kohler-Cadmore departed. He scored 10 runs from 11 balls.
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