he two men are currently either side of age 30, and have been friends for a long time, and also know a thing or two about having rollercoaster international careers. (Sportzpics)
Even before the dream Chepauk move became a reality for Sanju Samson, there was a conversation sometime ago with the current Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad. The two men are currently either side of age 30, and have been friends for a long time, and also know a thing or two about having rollercoaster international careers. So when the topic came up, Ruturaj had no hesitation telling Samson that he’d be welcome in Chennai.
“I remember a conversation we had two to three years back, we were in England. You know, he was asking about what is happening in CSK, how things are, and all that. And I said, I feel being a South boy, you should explore this opportunity, you should be here,” Ruturaj said on the first episode of Super Kings Podcast, in a conversation with Abhinav Mukud.
“I don’t know if I was the first one or not (to bring this up to him) but I mean, we have been friends for a long time now and we we have been in and out of the Indian team, we kind of had the same journey, same struggles. So that’s what I had expressed to him. The first thing I said to him when he asked will you be the next captain… I said I don’t know, I don’t really care about captaincy, I like playing here, I like the atmosphere.”
“I like how the culture is and I am really happy as a player as well. He, in fact, immediately replied ‘I don’t want to come in a situation where I want to be the captain there, I want to play under you, it is your team, it is your franchise and I will be happy to be there just as a player, but whenever I get an opportunity, I would definitely love to come’.”
Samson eventually made the switch from Rajasthan Royals – where he was a franchise icon – to CSK before the auction for this upcoming season, and Ruturaj revealed that it was a long process to finalise the move. The trade also saw another CSK icon in Ravindra Jadeja heading the other way to Jaipur (and Guwahati).
“So there were a lot of talks last year after the IPL. I was in regular touch with him, there were times where things weren’t happening, there were times things were really close but there were again times were things went back two-three steps. As soon as it happened, I was really happy,” the CSK captain said.
Ruturaj also said he and Samson shared a similar attitude. “We share a similar kind of attitude, where I feel he is not someone who wants to be star of the show, not to be always on the forefront. He always keeps the team first, and he is someone who keeps things really calm, not someone who wants to steal the show. That’s where we bonded really well,” the 29-year-old said about his 31-year-old teammate.
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