Kumar Sangakkara breaks silence on Sanju Samson’s dismissal, says ‘it depends on…’

After losing to Delhi Capitals by 20 runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in IPL 2024, Rajasthan Royals director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara feels his team should have won the match despite captain Sanju Samson’s dramatic dismissal . Samson hit a scintillating 46-ball 86, where he timed all his eight fours and six sixes like a dream. His fine knock ended on the fourth ball of the 16th over in dramatic circumstances when Shai Hope took a screaming catch at long-off, balancing just millimeters short of Mukesh Kumar’s boundary ropes.

The third referee, Michael Gough, checked a few angles without finding evidence that Hope’s boots were making contact with the perimeter rope, with the decision ruled as withdrawn. Samson had started to back away after seeing the replays, but upon seeing “OUT” flashing on the screen, he approached the referees in protest and even tried to watch them again, but it was to no avail.

“It depends on the replays and the angles; sometimes you think the foot hit. It’s a difficult question for the third umpire to judge. The match was at a crucial stage; what happens in cricket is that you have different perspectives. At the end of the day, you have to abide by the decision made by the third referee.

“If we have any other opinion, we will share it and resolve the matter with the umpires. Regardless of this dismissal, we should have won the match. But Delhi played very well and fought till the end. They were very smart with their bowling at the back,” Sangakkara said in the post-match press conference.

Later, Samson was fined 30 percent of his match fee for a Level 1 offense under Article 2.8 of the IPL Code of Conduct, which talks about showing dissent to a decision taken by the referees. “The referees on the field must trust what the referees on television say. Ultimately, all players must comply. There is a lot of pressure in the middle on the players and officials, so we are trying to resolve this problem in the best possible way,” Sangakkara added.

Pravin Amre, DC’s assistant coach, praised Hope’s athletic efforts from deep to recover Samson’s catch. “In IPL, some runs are very crucial and that was a defining moment in the match. Sanju was batting so well in the match and we have to recognize the way Hope judged and balanced for the catch.

“Also, the referees are there, so there’s a lot of technology, and their call is the final decision. I’ll give Hope credit because it wasn’t an easy catch. I talked to him after the match and he said he anticipated it because the ball came very, very quickly,” he said.

With 471 runs in 11 matches, Samson was consistently among the runs for RR, notably hitting five half-centuries, to move into third place in the race for the Orange cap. Accumulating carries at a consistent rate has been widely identified as an issue with Samson in seasons past, which is on display this season, along with not being thrown out of rotation and, more importantly, increasing his strike rate whenever necessary, as Sangakkara said.

“The most important thing about this season for Sanju is that he has a lot of clarity on how he should bat. There are certain stages of the game where he seems to lose a bit of concentration, which we have addressed in previous seasons he’s really embraced his role, not just as a captain, but also when he’s hitting as a batter (He’s) kind of changed his mentality about the importance of rest and. recovery, rather than just training all the time and being tired mentally and physically, so he really enjoys that.

“The rest is just his exceptional abilities. He’s a very special player and when he’s fresh and focused there’s nothing he can’t really do. I think his qualities are exceptional. is a very humble and grounded guy.

“Not much on social media, he likes his private life. He really cares about the rest of the group. So those are great qualities apart from his talent and skills. So I think he would be exceptional in this group. Once again he is exceptionally talented in terms of pace and spin he doesn’t mind the high pace, the turns don’t bother him. It’s just a matter of focusing and trusting the areas he’s in. mark and really keep the ball the intention goes.

“It’s not just about sixes and fours, it’s also about making sure a good ball goes for one or two. But again, he can play any shot in the book. He has great power to cross the boundary, and he is just exceptionally good against spin,” Sangakkara said.

He signed off taking no sides on who between Samson and Pant should be India’s main keeper-batsman in the upcoming T20 World Cup. “I think he’s already in the World Cup squad, right? I do not really know. It really depends on Rahul Dravid and Rohit Sharma and how they see the combination. But he made his case, so I hope he has a good run in the World Cup.

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