Sanju Samson. File PhotoKochi: Kerala's rising star Sanju Samson was bought for a whopping Rs 8 crore by Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) player auction in Bengaluru on Saturday. It will be a homecoming of sort for Sanju as he had signaled his arrival with the Jaipur-based franchise in the 2013 IPL.
Sanju played three seasons for Royals before the franchise was slapped with a two-year suspension along with Chennai Super Kings in 2015 following the spot-fixing scam of 2013.
Bidding war
The 23-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman had a base price of Rs 1 crore. Mumbai Indians and Royals were keen to rope in Sanju, and in the end it was the latter who succeeded once Delhi Daredevils decided not to exercise the Right to Match option. Delhi had bought Sanju for Rs 4.2 crore in the 2016 auction.
Sanju had become the second youngest player after Manish Pandey to score a hundred in the IPL last season against Rising Pune Supergiant.
Sanju is away in Chennai with the Kerala team preparing for the South Zone one-day competition.
It is interesting to note that Rahul Dravid, who was Sanju's captain in Royals and later his mentor at Daredevils, won't be there to guide him this time around. However, Sanju has good company with Australian captain Steve Smith, Indian vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, English all-rounder Ben Stokes and England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler in the Royals ranks.
Basil goes to SRH
It was also a day to remember for Sanju's Kerala teammate Basil Thampi as he was picked up by Sunrisers Hyderabad for Rs 95 lakh. This will be the second season in the IPL for the pacer who played for Gujarat Lions last year.
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