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India's wicketkeeper-batter Sanju Samson recently gave fans a glimpse of his golf skills with his latest Instagram story. The cricket star was seen unwinding with a game of golf on Friday, January 28.
The 27-year-old will ply his trade for the Rajasthan Royals in the upcoming season of the Indian Premier League. He was retained by the inaugural champions ahead of the 10-franchise mega-auction.
Meanwhile, the talented gloveman was not included in the ODI squad or the T20I squad for team India's impending home series against the West Indies. His last appearance for the national side was in July last year in Sri Lanka.
Though Samson's stint as Rajasthan's captain did not yield positive results for the franchise last year, he did make a significant impact with the bat. In 14 games, he racked up 484 runs at an exceptional average of 40.33.
Rajasthan Royals retain three players ahead of IPL 2022 auction
Along with Samson, Rajasthan have also retained England's swashbuckling keeper-batter Jos Buttler, along with India's 20-year-old opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, ahead of the auction.
As Samason was their first retention pick, he will be paid ₹14 crore for the season. Buttler will be paid ₹10 crore, whereas Jaiswal will pocket a salary of ₹4 crore in the latest edition of the Indian T20 extravaganza.
Samson is expected to lead the side this year as well. In a video shared by the franchise on their YouTube channel, he had mentioned that the team management were looking at him as a long-term leader when they had handed him the captaincy.
He said:
"From the moment I was made the leader, it was very clear from the franchise that they were looking at me leading the team for a longer period. So, the words were exchanged much before this retention and whatever process we went through,"
Watch the full video here:
The much-awaited IPL 2022 auction is scheduled to take place next month in Bangalore. The Royals will enter the event with a purse of ₹62 crore.
