Rajasthan Royals skipper Sanju Samson battled hard to keep his team in the hunt to chase down 198 to win against Punjab Kings in Match No. 8 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 in Guwahati on Wednesday. However, Samson’s effort along with ‘Impact Player’ Dhruv Jurel’s 15-ball 32 were not enough as IPL 2023 auction’s most expensive player Sam Curran held his nerve to seal a much-deserved win for Shikhar Dhawan’s side.
However, Samson did manage to break a massive record for the Rajasthan Royals, becoming their all-time leading run-scorer en route to his 42 off 25 balls on Wednesday. Samson’s tally now stands at 3,138 runs in 118 matches, going past Ajinkya Rahane – who had 3,098 runs in 106 games.
HERE are Rajasthan Royals all-time top scorers…
Sanju Samson – 3,138 runs (118 matches)
Ajinkya Rahane – 3,098 runs (106 matches)
Shane Watson – 2,474 runs (84 matches)
Jos Buttler – 2,378 runs (60 matches)
Rahul Dravid – 1,324 runs (52 matches)
Sanju Samson overtakes Ajinkya Rahane as the leading runscorer for Rajasthan Royals in the history of the IPL. It will be tough for BCCI to ignore him while selecting the squad for India’s upcoming ODI World Cup. Samson is on __ #IPL2023 #RRvsPBKS pic.twitter.com/F8M9utzGrV
— Ridhima Pathak (@PathakRidhima) April 5, 2023
“I think it was a really good track to bat on especially in the Powerplay. There was not much movement. Their batsmen came with a really positive mindset and their momentum carried on with that. Our bowlers tried varying their lengths and speed. It’s a high scoring venue but we did reasonably good job pulling them back after the Powerplay start they got,” Samson said during the post-match presentation.
On ‘Impact Player’ Dhruv Jurel for the Royals, Samson said, “It’s really a pleasure. He has been with us for the last two seasons. Lots and lots of work has gone behind him. We all are really happy. When you come to the IPL, it’s a one-week camp before the IPL starts but these guys put in 5 weeks of work coming to our academy facing thousands of balls. We’re happy to have a batsman like that in our team. Dew, I was expecting it come in the second half of the game but it was right there in the first innings. It was a high scoring game and I think we’ll be a bit more prepared in the next game.”
However, it was England and Punjab Kings all-rounder Sam Curran who held his nerve at the end of the day, defending 16 runs in the final over to seal the second successive win for his side.
“I think when it comes to those situations, you know if you nail your yorker, you’ll be okay. Some days it works and some days it won’t but luckily it was our day. I was trying to get our ball changed because it was like soap. I don’t really understand why they got their ball changed but we can’t,” Curran said.
