There was a picture from IPL 2023 that recently claimed the Wisden Photograph of the Year award. It was from a Rajasthan Royals match where wicketkeeper Sanju Samson and fielders Dhruv Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer collided to grab a catch. It wasn’t, however, a one-off scenario for the Royals last year. And with similar incidents continuing this year as well, as seen in the match against Punjab Kings on Saturday, captain Samson took a cheeky dig at the franchise, before sending out a stern message.
The incident in the PBKS and RR match happened in the penultimate over the first innings at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, Mullanpur, in Chandigarh when a fuller delivery angling in from fast bowler Avesh Khan was miscued towards mid-wicket. With no fielder stationed there, Samson charge in to take the catch and so did Avesh. Both went for it, but neither managed to complete the dismissal.
The incident saw Ashutosh Sharma, then on 11 from 7, bounce back to score two sixes and a four in his unbeaten 16-ball 31 as Punjab amassed 147 for eight in 20 overs.
After Rajasthan survived in the thriller of a run chase, Samson saw the funny side to Rajasthan’s tryst with high-catch instances.
“We had few funny instances from last year and this year. But I am really happy that everyone is eager to go and catch. I would be very sad if people are just staying away and not catching it,” he said in the post-match presentation as the presenter was left in splits.
Samson admitted that it is almost impossible even if a player calls to take a catch given the noise from the crowd. However, he sent out a stern message to his fast bowlers saying that such catches are easier to take for wicketkeepers than for fielders.
“It gets a bit tough actually – the stadium is full of noise and when people call, we are looking at the ball, we can’t look who is coming. I need to tell my fast bowlers that it’s a bit easier to catch with the gloves instead of hands,” he added.
