“Sanju is extremely funny off the field” – Ravichandran Ashwin ahead of IPL 2024

Ace spinner Ravichandran Ashwin recently opened up on his bond with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson ahead of the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) season. The 37-year-old labeled Samson as a funny character off the field and said that they bond owing to their love for South Indian movies.

Ashwin has been playing under the captaincy of Samson at RR since 2022. The duo were retained for the upcoming IPL season.

Ashwin recently told Star Sports:

“Sanju is extremely funny off the field. I am not sure a lot of people understand that or probably know that. It’s a problem of perfection a lot of people battle how you see someone on the ground and how they are off it, it’s completely different."

He continued:

"That’s how Sanju is, he speaks Hindi, Malayalam, and Tamil and we connect a lot. I am a Tamil cinema buff and we connect there and he gets humor.”

The Tamil Nadu-born spinning all-rounder added:

“A lot of people who speak Tamil and are not natively from Chennai or somewhere inside the state, don’t get the internal humor because a lot of humor comes from the movies."

He concluded:

"Sanju because he watches so much cinema, he gets it. We straightaway bond there. We share a lot of laugh and riot. For me, when I see Sanju off the field, we are mostly having a conversation away from cricket.”

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“He is able to differentiate, and demarcate” – Ravichandran Ashwin lauds Sanju Samson’s captaincy

Ravichandran Ashwin further lauded Sanju Samson for his captaincy and credited him for being a true professional. On this, he said:

“On the field, I try and give him inputs as I see how the game is panning out. However, that relationship off the field doesn’t come on the field. It’s generally that younger brother, elder brother sort of a relationship off it. On the field, we are able to switch off.

The 37-year-old continued:

“I do what he wants and give my inputs and then he takes what he wants and gets on with it. I find Sanju as a young captain, he is able to differentiate, and demarcate both which is phenomenal.”

As skipper, Samson has led RR to 22 wins in 45 games. He captained his team to the final in the 2022 season. The Royals finished fifth in the points table last year, winning seven out of their 14 league games.

RR will begin their IPL 2024 campaign against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Sawai Mansingh Indoor Stadium in Jaipur on March 24.