Sanju Samson's retention was no brainer, he is long-term leader of RR: Kumar Sangakkara

The Rajasthan Royals retained three players ahead of the IPL 2022 mega auction which came in form of their skipper Sanju Samson, ace English batter Jos Buttler followed by young talent Yashasvi Jaiswal. Talking in terms of the team’s three retentions, RR’s director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara stated that retaining Samson was a ‘no-brainer’ and that he is their ‘long-term leader’.

It has to be noted that though RR didn’t have a fine IPL 2021 season, Samson had a great season with the bat where he smashed 484 runs in 14 games, averaging over 40.00. Sangakkara added that the Kerala cricketer is an exceptional player and remains to be a wonderful asset for the franchise. Samson has been retained for INR 14 Crore by RR.

Sanju Samson has shown time and time again what a wonderful asset he is for RR: Sangakkara

“We worked really hard in terms of working with our newly-formed data analytic team, with the help of all our partners in India and in the US, we finally decided, of course, Sanju Samson, it was a no-brainer in terms of being our captain, number one. He is going to be the long-term leader of this unit of Rajasthan Royals. He is an exceptional player and he has shown time and time again what a wonderful asset he has been for RR,” said Kumar Sangakkara in a video posted by RR.

Moving further in their retention list, ace batter Jos Buttler came as the 2^nd pick who has been retained for INR 10 crore. The third retention spot was sealed by uncapped Yashasvi Jaiswal, who became the 2^nd youngest player to be retained across teams ahead of the mega-auction. The Sri Lankan great praised Jaiswal by calling him a very quick learner, hard worker, and a star in making.

“We have retained Yashasvi Jaiswal, the young Indian opener, an absolute star in the making, he had a very very good season pre-retention, extremely talented. He is a very very quick learner, he is a hard worker and he will be our uncapped retention,” added Sangakkara on RR’s young prospect Yashasvi Jaiswal.