The 2023 edition of the Indian Premier League will start on March 31, and in the opening match, the defending champion Gujarat Titans will face four-time winners Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. With less than two weeks to go before the start of the cash-rich league, players from all 10 franchises have kicked off their preparations for the megaevent. CSK’s training camp has been underway at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai for the last couple of weeks, and last year’s losing finalists, the Rajasthan Royals, have also kicked off their preparations for this year’s megaevent. RR skipper Sanju Samson, who led the side to the final for the first time since the inaugural edition in 2008, has joined the team’s camp in Jodhpur.
In a video that has gone viral on social media platforms, the 28-year-old cricketer, who was not selected in India’s ODI squad for the ongoing series against five-time World Cup winners Australia, can be seen hitting big sixes during the training camp.
Sanju made his last appearance for India on January 3, 2023, against Sri Lanka during the first T20I at the Wankhede Stadium. He got injured in that match while fielding and has been out since then. He joined the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to complete his rehabilitation process, and after getting fully fit, joined the RR camp in Jodhpur.
In the 2022 edition of the world’s richest franchise cricket league, Sanju was in red-hot form with the bat. He finished the season as the second-leading run scorer for his team and ninth overall. He appeared in all 17 matches for RR and scored 458 runs, which came at an average of 28.63 and a strike rate of 146.79.
In this year’s IPL, the Royals will open their campaign on Sunday (April 2) against Aiden Markram’s Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
