"Sanju Samson giving MS Dhoni vibes" - Fans compare Rajasthan Royals skipper to legendary Dhoni CSK legend

A calm demeanour, impressive power-hitting capabilities, and a knack for taking games deep. Also, add leadership skills and reflexes behind the stumps to a long list of virtues. 

Well, if we roll back the years these attributes would mostly be associated with Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the swashbuckling Indian finisher who is a legend, and even at 41, still makes the ball vanish into the stands with little effort. 

However, over the years, there has been another cricketer flourishing on the Indian Premier League (IPL) platform with a similar burgeoning reputation of big-hitting coupled with fantastic wicket-keeping capability - Sanju Samson. And the comparison heightened after Samson's terrific catch to dimiss Prithwi Shaw in Royals' game against Delhi Capitals on Saturday. 

2 tickets for #Pushpa2 please 😍

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 8, 2023

What did Sanju Samson do against the Capitals?

Chasing a mammoth total of 200, Delhi Capitals started their response against Rajasthan Royals with two dot balls. Trent Boult bowled full in the 'corridor of uncertainty' and Shaw tried to flick through mid-on. He edged it towards first slip.

Samson, who is initially wrong-footed, threw himself to his right and plucked the ball out of the air at shin height to complete an outstanding catch. 

The Barsapara Stadium in Guwahati, the adopted home for RR for their first two games, erupted with jubilance. Manish Pandey soon followed suit and DC failed to recover from their batting collapse and finally succumbed to a loss of 57 runs.

Sanju Samson giving vibes OF MS Dhoni.
Cool and Calm Captaincy.
Classy Wicketkeeping. pic.twitter.com/gSu83NNiho

— Ayush Ranjan (@AyushRaGenius) April 8, 2023

The Royals have now won two out of their first three matches and as the players circled the ground to thank the crowd chants of 'Sanju... Sanju' rang round the stadium. 

The Malayali is no local boy or does not even belong to this part of the sub-continent. Instead, Samson hails from Kerala, a traditional hotbed of football where cricket plays second fiddle.

He has enjoyed similar support overseas as well in Ireland, Zimbabwe and the West Indies where spectators went gaga over the wicketkeeper-batsman, who has been the pundits' favourite whipping boy as they prefer branding him as a case of unfulfilled potential and 'what could have been'. 

(North) east or west, Sanju fans are the best. 🫶 pic.twitter.com/BOUx7bSD3O

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 8, 2023

What has Sanju Samson said about his comparisons with MS Dhoni?

Shashi Tharoor, MP from Samson's home state of Kerala, after his consistent performances in IPL 2020 called him the next MS Dhoni. 

However, the player has his feet firmly planted on the ground and remains far from being flattered by these comparisons. 

"I am sure that no one can and no one should try to play like him. It’s not at all easy to play like MS Dhoni, so leave that aside. I never think of playing like MS Dhoni. He is a legend of Indian cricket, legend of the game,” Samson said in response to the comparisons. 

“I only focus on my game, what I can do, how I can do it best and how I can win matches,” the Keralite added. 

What is Sanju Samson's record in the IPL?

Samson is the highest run-scorer for the RR franchise in IPL history with 3623 runs and counting.

Moreover, recently through his innings of 42 against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) he went past 1000 runs as captain and is only the 11th player in the history of IPL to get those many runs leading a team after being handed over the captain’s hat in the 2021 season.

He has always led from the front and ended the season with 484 runs from 14 innings and in the next edition, he continued in the same vein to propel RR to the IPL final. 

To sum up, Samson has scored 3623 runs in 141 matches at an average of 29.22 and 136.25 strike rate. 

Sanju Samson vs MS Dhoni: How have they performed in the IPL?