Sanju Samson and I are on the same page: Rahul Dravid

JAIPUR: It hasn’t been a happy comeback in the IPL for Rahul Dravid. After leading India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title win, Dravid’s appointment as head coach of Rajasthan Royals was expected to yield better results than where the team is currently placed in the points table — a disappointing eighth among 10 teams.
Even as the team struggles to arrest the slide, reports of internal discord have taken social media by storm. Based on video footage, there has been speculation that captain Sanju Samson may have been disinterested in the discus -sions while planning for the Super Over in the last match against Delhi Capitals.

Dravid, however, dismissed reports of any rift between him and Samson.
“I don’t know where these reports are coming from. Sanju and I are on the same page,” a curt Dravid said when asked about the issue in the pre-match press conference on Friday.

“The decisions are being made by me, with Sanju being an integral part of that, and in consultation with our other coaches and analyst team. So, a lot of decisions are made with people who are pretty much experts in the field and who have spent a lot of time in the field. “A lot of decisions can be looked at from the outside and termed as perplexing but there is a lot of thought that goes into making these decisions. Some of them work out, some of them don’t,” he said.
That said, Dravid did concede that his side’s performance has not been up to the mark. With a young and relatively inexperienced squad, the former Indian captain, renowned for his ability to nurture talent, has not delivered according to expectations.
“I will accept the fact that we have been a bit disappointing this season. There is no doubt about it when you lose five games out of seven. We haven’t probably played according to our potential,” Dravid said while defending all the decisions taken by the management.
‘Waiting for scan reports of Sanju’ On Samson’s availability for the game against Lucknow Super Giants on Saturday, Dravid said, “He experienced a bit of pain in the abdominal area in the game against Capitals. He has done some scans. We are awaiting the results. Once we get more clarity around the scans and severity of it, we will make a decision tomorrow.”