Even though Sanju Samson has failed to cement his position in the Indian team despite being a promising talent for so many years, he enjoys a cult fan following throughout the country. Especially in his home state of Kerala, Samson enjoys a massive following. Making his T20 debut in 2011, Samson leads the Rajasthan Royals (RR) franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL) and was on the verge of helping them win their second title in the history of the tournament in 2022 where the Men in Pink fell short in the final hurdle and lost to the Gujarat Titans (GT).
However, things could well have been different for Samson and RR had the wicketkeeper-batter accepeted the offer to join a "big team". In a recent revelation made by Rajamani Prabhu, the team trainer, he shared why Samson chose to stay with the inaugural champions despite offers from a few other franchises competing in the league.
"I told Sanju Samson to join some big teams in IPL after 2021 but he replied that I want to make Rajasthan Royals a big team, he further told that let's bring big players like Ashwin, Chahal, Prasidh into the team. He has the vision," he said on Sports Vikatan.
"Before 2022 Auction, Sanju Samson got a captaincy offer from three big IPL franchises. He stayed in RR because of his commitment and loyalty. I can bet you that 99% of players would've jumped boats with the kind of offer he had on his plate," he revealed.
The trainer also disclosed that even though Samson's current pay at the RR franchise is INR 15 crore, he spends at least INR 2 crore to help young players in the domestic cricket circuit with enormous talent.
"Sanju Samson gets around 15 Cr per season, as far as i know, he is spending a minimum of Rs. 2 cr to help domestic players and children with great talent. More than the player Sanju, everyone wants the good human Sanju to be successful. That's why he has such a huge fan base," Rajamani Prabhu claimed.
RR had a great start to their IPL 2023 campaign but eventually finished on the fifth place on the league table with 14 points and failed to make it to the Playoffs.