There had been rumors on social media that the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) had approached the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and their skipper Sanju Samson for a trade as CSK looked at Sanju as a potential candidate to lead their franchise after MS Dhoni.
MS Dhoni is 42 years old. Although Dhoni has confirmed that he will play in the IPL 2024 next year, it is all but certain that next season will be his last in the IPL. He is already struggling with a knee injury, for which he had surgery earlier this year, and is batting only a few balls every innings, coming in as late as possible.
While CSK have someone like Rauturaj Gaikwad, who is already touted to lead them after MS Dhoni, the franchise perhaps would want an experienced captain. And Sanju Samson fits the bill.
In recent days on social media, speculations were made that CSK had approached Samson and RR for a trade of their captain. One fan even claimed that Ravichandran Ashwin, Samson’s teammate at Rajasthan Royals, said that CSK wanted Sanju Samson.
R Ashwin slammed a Sanju Samson fan for spreading fake news
This tweet reached R Ashwin. The senior off-spinner not only quashed it as a fake news, but also slammed the Twitter user for spreading lies quoting him.
The fan, with Twitter handle @CricketWithRosh, tweeted: ‘Ashwin on his YouTube channel – “Sanju Samson was approached by CSK as a captain which was nearly finalised. But it dint go through Sanju rejected their offer. Theres a definite possibility in future”. #SanjuSamson #IPL2024 #iplauction2024’
Ashwin finally called out this fan and slammed him for spreading fake news and lies.
R Ashwin commented: “Fake news! Dont lie quoting me”
Rajasthan Royals players retained: Sanju Samson (c), Jos Buttler, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Trent Boult, Yuzvendra Chahal, Adam Zampa, Prasidh Krishna, Kunal Rathore, R Ashwin, Kuldeep Sen, Navdeep Saini, Riyan Parag, Donovan Ferreira, Sandeep Sharma
Players released: Joe Root, Abdul Basith, Jason Holder, Akash Vashisht, Kuldip Yadav, Obed McCoy, M Ashwin, KC Cariappa, KM Asif
Players traded out : Devdutt Padikkal
Players traded in: Avesh Khan
Meanwhile, Samson is currently playing and captaining Kerala in the Vijay Hazare Trophy.
