In Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022, Sanju Samson broke the jinx as he led Rajasthan Royals (RR) to their first final since the inaugural edition in 2008. Under Samson, RR have qualified for playoffs twice in four seasons which has led to many applauding his captaincy. His overseas teammate, West Indies' Shimron Hetmyer spoke highly of Samson as well. He hopes that Samson also gets the opportunity to captain the Indian side.
“I rate Sanju Samson highly as a captain. I'm hoping he gets the opportunity to be captain in India at some point because he does a really good job keeping calm and ensuring that his team and teammates are all taken care of,” Hetmyer told Cricket.com.
Samson has led RR in 61 games. Under his leadership, RR have won 31 games.
Hetmyer was roped in by RR in the previous mega auction. The southpaw was retained for Rs 11 crore by the Rajasthan-based franchise ahead of the recent mega auction as well. After working with Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara in last two years, he is elated by the opportunity to train under former India head coach Rahul Dravid.
“I am really excited to be working with Rahul Dravid. I've heard only good things, so I can't wait to get started and actually experience them myself,” he said.
As Hetmyer is RR's second-most expensive player, there is talk around his price tag. But, the attacking middle-order batter is not concerned about it now and focused on the game.
“The first year, it did. Because then I never had that opportunity in the beginning. So it did in the beginning because there was a lot of talk about it and so on. But now, it's like that, at this point, it has died away just a little bit. And now it's mainly just the focus on the job at hand,” he said.
RR will kick off their IPL 2025 campaign against Pat Cummins' Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on March 23.
Hetmyer's statistics for Royals
Hetmyer is RR's fourth-highest run-scorer in overseas players' category. He has played 41 matches and scored 726 runs averaging 36.30. He has two half-centuries from three seasons. His strike rate as finisher is 154.46.