After losing to Delhi Capitals by 20 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2024, Kumar Sangakkara, director of cricket at Rajasthan Royals, feels that his team should have won the match despite the dramatic dismissal of captain Sanju Samson. Samson hit a brilliant 46-86 ball in which he hit all his eight fours and six sixes like a dream. His attractive knock ended on the fourth ball of the 16th in dramatic circumstances when Shai Hope screamed to catch a long ball, teetering just millimeters miniature of Mukesh Kumar’s boundary ropes.
Third umpire Michael Gough checked several angles, finding no evidence that Hope’s shoes had made contact with the boundary rope, and gave the decision as out. Samson started to come back after watching the replays, but when the message “OUT” appeared on the screen, he went to the officials in protest and even tried to review, but in vain.
“It depends on replays and angles; sometimes it feels like the foot has touched. It’s arduous for the third referee to judge this. The match was at a crucial moment; what happens in cricket is that you have different perspectives. At the end of the match of the day, you must follow the decision made by the third referee.
“If we have a different opinion, we will share it and clarify it with the referees. Regardless of the dismissal, we should have won the game. But Delhi played really well and fought till the end. bowling behind schedule in the match,” Sangakkara said at the post-match press conference.
Samson was later fined 30 percent of his match entries for a first-degree offense under Article 2.8 of the IPL Code of Conduct, which deals with showing dissent against a decision made by the umpires. “The referees on the pitch must follow what the TV referee says. Ultimately, all players must adhere to this. There is a lot of pressure on the players and referees and we are trying to resolve the situation as best as we can,” Sangakkara added.
Pravin Amre, DC assistant coach, praised Hope’s sportsmanship in deep water to catch Samson. “In the IPL, some moments are very significant and this was the decisive moment in the match. Sanju batted very well in the match and we have to praise the way Hope judged and balanced his catch.
“Plus, there are judges there, so there’s a lot of technology, and their decision is the final decision. I’ll be grateful to Hope because it wasn’t an uncomplicated catch. I talked to him after the match and he said he expected it, the ball came very, very quickly,” he said.
With 471 wickets in 11 matches, Samson consistently ranks among RR’s chances, including scoring five half-centuries to finish third in the race for the Orange cap. Accumulating runs at a steady pace has been widely seen as a problem for Samson in previous seasons and this is evident in this season, apart from the fact that he is not being thrown out by the spin and more importantly, he is increasing his strike rate when needed, as Sangakkara said.
“The biggest thing this season for Sanju is that he is very clear about the way he should bat. At certain points in the game he seems to lose a little bit of concentration, which is what we have said in previous seasons. He has really believed in it and in his role, not only as a captain, but also when he bats as a batsman (he) has kind of changed his approach to it, how significant it is to rest and regenerate, and not just constant training, he is mentally and physically tired, so he is really joyful about it.
“The rest is just his unique skills. He’s a special player and when he’s fresh and focused, there’s nothing he can’t really do. I think his qualities are unique. He is a very humble and down to earth guy.
“Not much on social media, likes his privacy. He really cares about the rest of the group. So apart from his talent and skills, these are great qualities. So I think he would be unique in this group if Again he is just exceptionally talented in both pace and spin. The high pace doesn’t bother him, the turns don’t bother him. It’s just about focusing and trusting the areas where he’s scoring and really keeping them going.
“It’s not just about sixes and fours, it’s also about getting a good ball to go for one or two. But again, he can hit every shot in question. He has great power to push boundaries and is just exceptionally talented before spinning,” Sangakkara explained.
He signed off without taking sides on the issue of who between Samson and Pant should be India’s leading batsman in the upcoming T20 World Cup. “I think he’s already in the World Cup squad, right? I really do not know. It really depends on Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma and how they view the combination. But he made his case, so I hope he will have a good run in the World Cup.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Topics covered in this article
