Former Indian all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin reckons Sanju Samson has turned his form after adopting a balanced approach with the bat. Earlier, Samson used to take a lot more risks but he has been more guile in his shot-selection in the recent past.
Samson scored 321 runs in five matches of the T20 World Cup at a strike rate of almost 200 and played a key role in taking India to glory. After getting off to a slow start in IPL 2026, Samson scored a fine century (115 off 56 balls) against Delhi Capitals, whereas he scored 48 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders.
The CSK opener has scored 192 runs in six matches at an average of 38.40 and a strike rate of 174.54 in IPL 2026.
Ashwin said on ESPN Cricinfo, “He’s probably figured out that he can be measured and yet be a team player. I always felt Sanju put the team first and sometimes didn’t quite calculate the fact that he could take the team through. That calculation has started coming through a lot better. He can continue to improve in terms of understanding the right and wrong match-ups and also see how the game pans out.”
Ashwin had shared the dressing room with Samson on numerous occasions while playing for India and revealed that the flamboyant batter likes his personal space.
He concluded, “Sanju, he really does like his space. The way he practices, the way he turns up for a game. The way he wants to stay in his calm zone sometimes. That kind of support needs to come for him from around the people who he has. He’s quite disciplined. He’s turned a corner there.”
Samson was dismissed after scoring seven runs off three balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Saturday in the run chase of 195.
