Former Indian national cricket team batsman Aakash Chopra has refused to give the starting spot to Kerala superstar wicketkeeper-batsman Sanju Samson while selecting the ideal playing XI of Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Aakash Chopra said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) captain Ruturaj Gaikwad will open the innings along with 18-year-old Ayush Mhatre, who impressed everyone with his performances in his maiden Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
Sanju Samson traded from RR to CSK
After spending a long time at Rajasthan Royals (RR) and achieving tremendous success as captain, Sanju Samson has decided to leave the franchise ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
This was a big surprise for everyone as Sanju Samson was the first choice of Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction and the franchise had shown a lot of faith in him over the years.
However, Sanju Samson has made up his mind to leave Rajasthan Royals (RR) and informed the top management about his decision. RR agreed to Samson’s exit request and traded him to five-time IPL champions, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for Rs 18 crore.
In exchange for Samson, Rajasthan Royals (RR) traded veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and English all-rounder Sam Curran to Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
Samson’s best performances have come as an opening batsman, be it for RR or Team India – Aakash Chopra
Ever since Samson moved to CSK, fans have been left wondering about his batting position in the already stacked line-up of the Ruturaj Gaikwad-led team.
Samson’s best performances as a T20 batsman have been seen in the opening position, but recently the Indian team demoted him to the middle order upon the return of Shubman Gill, and now he is batting in different positions.
Speaking to JioStar, Aakash Chopra did not choose Sanju Samson as the opener for CSK and said that he can bat at No. 3, opening the innings with captain Ruturaj Gaikwad and the extremely talented young Ayush Mhatre. He elaborated:
“The big question they need to answer is whether Ruturaj Gaikwad and Sanju Samson are opening. Samson’s best has come as an opener, whether for RR or Team India.”
“At the moment, we have kept him at number three because Ayush Mhatre has done brilliantly in limited overs. If he continues that, they will still need someone at number four. There are overseas options available, what we have, we have kept only two overseas players. There is no Mathisha Pathirana, he would have been here. Nathan Ellis can come in place of Pathirana. They need to do something to get a spinner and a middle-order batsman there.”
Dewald Brevis can go to number four – Aakash Chopra
Aakash Chopra further said that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) need to address the spin-bowling issues after the exclusion of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and need to target players like Ravi Bishnoi and Rahul Chahar in the mini auction. he insisted:
“David Miller, Liam Livingstone or Dewald Brewis can also go at number four. In terms of spin, I see Ravi Bishnoi or Rahul Chahar coming into the team because they need spinners. Ravichandran Ashwin retired, Ravindra Jadeja got traded. As far as spinners are concerned, they only have Shreyas Gopal and Noor Ahmed in their team right now. So, Bishnoi can come and they have good options. It’s a considerable amount.”
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