Former Indian opening batter Sadagoppan Ramesh has requested the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) think tank to consider the keeper-batter Sanju Samson as a captaincy choice after the franchise struggled under Ruturaj Gaikwad.
Since Gaikwad took over as captain in the IPL 2024 season, CSK missed out on playoffs in all three editions. On the other hand, Samson amassed 477 runs from 14 innings at an average of 43.36 for CSK, leading the run-scoring charts for the franchise.
“CSK are seemingly thinking of many options as captain and even wondering if there is a captaincy change needed. Sanju Samson should be considered as captain because he’s such a fantastic team player. The CSK captaincy must be changed, and if it is, CSK must seriously consider Sanju Samson,” Ramesh said on his Instagram handle.
Further, Ramesh also delved into the details of Samson’s IPL captaincy record. Notably, the gloveman led RR from 2021 to 2025, winning 33 out of 66 games, and ending the IPL 2022 season as runners-up. Also, they qualified for the IPL 2024 playoffs.
“Samson has also captained 66 matches in the IPL and won 33. So he has a 50% success rate. Under him, RR performed well by reaching a final and making another playoff appearance. Of course, CSK need several other things to change, and just making Sanju the captain won’t win them the trophy. But if at all they change captains, Sanju must be strongly considered,” said Ramesh.
CSK current squad:
Batters: Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Dewald Brevis, Ayush Mhatre, Rahul Tripathi, Shaik Rasheed, Andre Siddarth
Wicketkeepers: MS Dhoni, Sanju Samson, Devon Conway, Urvil Patel, Vansh Bedi, Kartik Sharma
All-rounders: Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Veer, Matthew Short, Aman Khan, Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Anshul Kamboj, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Zakary Foulkes, Macneil Hadley Noronha, Dian Forrester
Bowlers: Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Rahul Chahar, Matheesha Pathirana, Nathan Ellis, Matt Henry, Akeal Hosein, Spencer Johnson, Mukesh Choudhary, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Kuldip Yadav, Akash Madhwal, Gurjapneet Singh
