Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson showered praise on Aakash Madhwal after they registered a six-wicket win against Chennai Super Kings at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi in the ongoing IPL 2025 on Tuesday.
RR was able to chase down the target of 188 runs with 17 balls to spare as they ended their campaign with a win. Meanwhile, Madhwal played a key role in restricting CSK to 187-8 as he returned with impressive figures of 3-29 in his quota of four overs.
The right-arm pacer accounted for Dewald Brevis, Shivam Dube and MS Dhoni. Brevis was going all guns blazing as he scored 42 runs off 25 balls Madhwal was able to dismiss him at the right time to put his team in front.
Sanju Samson said in the post-match presentation, “Aakash has played only last four games. Shane Bond has been working closely with him. Rahul sir and others have seen how hard he has worked. We are all happy for him. The way people are looking at powerplay there is not much difference in quality of teams.”
On the other hand, Samson also lauded 14-year-old Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who has impressed one and all with his power-hitting. The youngster scored a fine knock of 57 runs off just 33 balls with the help of four fours and as many sixes to lay down the foundation of the run-chase.
Samson added, “I don’t have words for Vaibhav. The hundred he got was sheer class. He can hit a slower ball over cover. Today when the middle overs was going on, he was going with his job very smartly. He has game awareness at such a young age which is commendable.”
The RR captain hailed the young bowlers for standing up in the absence of Jofra Archer and Sandeep Sharma. Yudhvir Singh also scalped three wickets but conceded 47 runs in his quota of four overs.
Samson concluded, “It feels good. To be honest, we were thinking should we bat first and set a score. I decided no hiding in this game. Decided to chase and face it. We have a very young bowling lineup. We are missing Jofra and Sandeep. But the kind of temperament and planning shown by the young bowlers was heartening to see. They have a bright future. They are very young and promising. There has been lot of work going on.”
RR would look to bounce back stronger in the next season after a disappointing IPL 2025.
