Former Indian batter and 1983 Cricket World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar heaped a lot of praise on Chennai Super Kings’ opening batter Sanju Samson for his match winning knock against the Delhi Capital
Updated: May 6, 2026 4:05 PM IST
Former Indian batter and 1983 Cricket World Cup winner Sunil Gavaskar heaped a lot of praise on Chennai Super Kings’ opening batter Sanju Samson for his match winning knock against the Delhi Capitals in match number 48 of the Indian Premier League at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi. This was CSK’s 5th victory of the season and it helped them go 6th on the points table.
Highlights
- Sanju’s comments were highly appreciated by former cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar, who not only highlighted the former’s patience but also praised Kartik Sharma for his crucial 41-run knock
Both the teams had entered this match under a lot of pressure, knowing that a loss could effectively end their hopes for play-offs qualification. Now, Delhi almost stands no chance of securing a top 4 finish, whereas Chennai could be in a 3-way race for the 4th position along with Rajasthan Royals and Gujarat Titans, who have 12 points each.
CSK were once again without their former 5-time IPL winning captain MS Dhoni, who is still recovering from a knee injury that he suffered right before Chennai’s opening match on March 30 against Rajasthan.
But against Delhi last night, that did not prove to be a problem as Dhoni’s direct replacement – Sanju Samson, showcased nerves of steel, leading the Super Kings to a nervy yet comfortable 8-wicket win with 15 balls to spare.
Delhi had posted a total of 155 on the board, thanks to the substantial contributions from Tristan Stubbs (38 off 31), Sameer Rizvi (40 off 24) and Ashutosh Sharma (14 off 5).
In response, Chennai lost the wickets of captain Ruturaj Gaikwad (6 off 13) and number 3 batter Urvil Patel (17 off 9) within the first 7 overs, giving DC a glimmer of hope of staging a possible comeback.
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But that wasn’t going to be the case as Sanju Samson and number 4 Kartik Sharma, who is the joint most expensive uncapped Indian at the IPL, stitched a match winning 114-run partnership, boosting their chances significantly for the play-offs.
Samson smashed 87 off 52 balls at a strike rate of over 160, however, the Kerala-born cricketer, missed out on his 3rd full century of the season by just 13 runs but that did not have any effect on him.
During the post-match presentation, when asked if he would have liked to reach triple figures, Sanju stressed that grabbing all 2 points for CSK was more important for him. The 31-year-old stated that he did not want to be selfish at such a crucial juncture of the season.
“A hundred is always special. But for that, I would have had to be a bit selfish. I didn’t say, ‘Take a single, let me get my hundred.’ I thought it was better to win the match for the team.” – Samson told Harsha Bhogle.
Sanju’s comments were highly appreciated by former cricketing great Sunil Gavaskar, who not only highlighted the former’s patience but also praised Kartik Sharma for his crucial 41-run knock. “Patience brings great rewards. He got set and then accelerated. Had Kartik not finished it off with those shots, Samson might have had his century. But he played for the team.” – Gavaskar said.
Up next, Chennai will take on the Lucknow Super Giants in their 11th match of the season on Sunday, May 10 in front of home support at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
