There are many close guarded and humorous tales among cricketers on the green turf which tend to come out in the public domain years after those incidents are over. One such secret came to light when Rajasthan Royal wicket-keeper batsman Sanju Samson on Tuesday revealed how his RR teammate and Australian batting stalwart Steve Smith got the nickname "Chachu." Samson said that it was formed Royals cricketer Brad Hodge who first nickname Steve Smith "Chachu".
"It started with Brad Hodge, he used to call Smith 'Chachu', then when Hodgy left, I started calling Smith 'Chachu'. In return Smith also started calling me 'Chachu'. We both really enjoy and continue calling each other that," said Samson in a conversation with RR spin consultant and New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi on the RR podcast.
"I share a very good relationship with him. He is one of the best brains in world cricket and we all enjoy a lot playing under him," said Samson about the RR captain.
Samson said he likes to observe the likes of Smith, wicketkeeper Jos Buttler and all rounder Ben Stokes preparing for games. "I observe Jos especially given he too is a wicketkeeper-batsman. He's always working on his skills and his game and never sits idle. He's either working on his keeping, batting in the nets or running around the park. I love to observe and know how he thinks and prepares as a keeper before a game," said Samson.
Commenting on his favourite IPL knock, he said: "My favourite innings I think will be against RCB at the Chinnaswamy when I scored 91 and we won the game."