Gambhir reacts after Shashi Tharoor calls Samson ‘the next Dhoni’

Sreesanth also urged the Thiruvananthapuram MP to not compare Samson with anyone

gambhir-samson-tharoor Gautam Gambhir; Sanju Samson; Shashi Tharoor

Senior Congress leader and Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor, like many others, is heaping words of praise for Rajasthan Royals’ Sanju Samson after displaying a strong show in the Indian Premier League so far. And with good reason.

Samson played a brilliant knock of 85 against Kings XI Punjab in their IPL match, guiding the Royals, along with captain Steve Smith and Rahul Tewatia, to a four-wicket win—the highest successful chase in the history of the IPL.

In the Royals’ opening game against Chennai Super Kings, Samson hit 74 off 32 balls, contributing to Rajasthan’s victory. He was adjudged the Player of the Match in both games.

Several former cricketer have even expressed their surprise as to why Samson hasn’t found a more permanent place in the national side.

Tharoor, calling the Kerala cricketer a world-class player, recalled that he had told a 14-year-old Samson that he would one day be the next M.S. Dhoni, adding that the day was here.

“What an absolutely incredible win for @rajasthanroyals ! I’ve known @iamSanjuSamson for a decade & told him when he was 14 that he would one day be the next MS Dhoni. Well, that day is here. After his two amazing innings in this IPL you know a world class player has arrived,” he tweeted.

However, not everyone may be pleased with the comparison as made evident by former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir’s reaction to Tharoor’s observation.

Responding to the Congress leader’s tweet, Gambhir said that Samson didn’t have to be the next anyone.

“Sanju Samson doesn’t need to be next anyone. He will be ‘the’ Sanju Samson of Indian Cricket,” the cricketer-turned-politician replied after quote-tweeting Tharoor’s comments.

Gambhir was one of many who was surprised that the Kerala batsman has not been considered for a permanent spot in the Indian team. He had earlier called Samson “the best young batsman in India”.

Former India pacer S. Sreesanth also took to Twitter to urge the Thiruvananthapuram MP to not compare Samson with anyone, adding that had he been given the opportunity, the Kerala batsman would have won World Cups and not just the two innings in the IPL.

“He is not next Dhoni .,he is @IamSanjuSamson the one and only.he should have been playing from 2015 regularly in all formats.pls don’t compare him,if he had given right opportunities then ,he would have been playing like this for india and would have won world cups ..but…

“Iam sure he will still keep playing well and it’s not just these 2 innings ..he is gonna break a lot of records too and win many more world cups for our country. So pls don’t compare him to anyone ..he is an amazing Malayali from our Gods own country . His best is yet to come (sic),” Sreesanth said in two separate tweets in reply to Tharoor.

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