Sanju had disagreement with Royals' management over Jos Buttler; instead team spent 11 crore on another foreign player

JAIPUR: Rumours that Sanju Samson might leave the Rajasthan Royals have been going around for a while. Sanju himself has not yet made any comment about it, but in the past, he had openly said that he had some disagreements with the management on certain matters.

Last season, Rajasthan Royals surprised many fans when they released England star and explosive opener Jos Buttler. This move came even though Buttler had been with the team for years and was still in great form. In an interview with Jio Hotstar, Sanju expressed his disagreement with that decision. Gujarat Titans later bought Buttler for Rs 15.75 crore, and he went on to deliver a fantastic batting performance this season.

When Sanju got injured, the franchise decided to retain Riyan Parag as captain and West Indies player Shimron Hetmyer. Interestingly, Hetmyer, who wasn’t in top form, was kept for Rs 11 crore. Along with Sanju, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, and Sandeep Sharma were also retained. Because of this, the Royals couldn’t buy Buttler back through the RTM (Right to Match) card in the auction.

“It was a very challenging decision to let go of Jos Buttler. I told him about it during the England series. If I could, I would remove the rule that forces teams to release players after three years. You lose the bond you have built over the years. He was part of our family,” Sanju said.

Meanwhile, former Indian cricketer R. Ashwin believes that there is very little chance of Sanju moving from Rajasthan Royals to Chennai Super Kings. He said such a move would be very difficult because Rajasthan would gain nothing from it.

“If Sanju goes to Chennai, it will be hard for Rajasthan Royals to get back a player of the same level in return. That’s why a trade between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings is unlikely. If Rajasthan trades Sanju to Chennai, they will have to trade with other teams to fill the gap, but the chances of getting top-quality players will be low,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.