"He’ll say he’s been playing very selfishly this year" - Ravichandran Ashwin on Sanju Samson's IPL 2024 season

Veteran Rajasthan Royals (RR) off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has been in awe of the way his captain Sanju Samson has performed so far in the IPL 2024 season. He claimed that while Samson may feel that he played a lot more selfishly, it actually worked out well for the Royals.

In 14 games, Samson has scored 521 runs at an average of 52.10 and a fantastic strike rate of 155.52 with as many as five half-centuries to his name. While the batter had often been guilty of throwing away his starts in order to play for the team's cause, Ashwin feels Samson scoring big consistently has, in fact, helped RR immensely.

Speaking to Star Sports after RR's win over RCB in IPL 2024 Eliminator, here's what Ravichandran Ashwin had to say about Sanju Samson:

"With Sanju, if you ask him, he’ll say he’s been playing very selfishly this year, but he’s striking at 165 (155.52). That’s exactly what we needed from Sanju Samson this year. I’m so happy for him, and I’m thrilled that he’s made it to the Indian World Cup side."

It will be interesting to see who India pick as their first-choice wicketkeeper between Samson and Rishabh Pant at the T20 World Cup.

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Ravichandran Ashwin on Riyan Parag

Ravichandran Ashwin hailed Riyan Parag for his coming-of-age season for RR in IPL 2024. Riyan played a crucial hand of 36 in the Eliminator against RCB to help his team get over the like. However, the veteran off-spinner wants youngsters like Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal to also take some more responsibility and finish games when set.

On this, he stated:

"My expectations out of Riyan Parag are high. And I would say he misses out on closing games down, and that is something that I always tell Riyan and Yashasvi because they are top-class players, and now we are seeing the silver lining, the stuff they are made of. That’s why I’m so excited about this group of players."

The Rajasthan Royals will now face the SunRisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 in Chennai on Friday, May 24. In the absence of Jos Buttler, the likes of Samson, Jaiswal and Parag will once again be key to RR's hopes of making it to the final.