Kamal Ghorui
Aaron Finch praised Sanju Samson for the way he has settled into his new franchise, calling him the superstar Chennai Super Kings had long been waiting to add to their lineup.Samson is featuring in IPL 2026 after a historic Rs 18 crore trade from Rajasthan Royals to CSK. The wicketkeeper-batter has emerged as one of the standout performers of the season, scoring 402 runs in 10 matches at an average of 57.42 and remaining firmly in the Orange Cap race.In CSK’s latest match against Delhi Capitals, Samson produced a match-winning unbeaten 87 off 52 balls on a tricky surface to earn the Player of the Match award. During the innings, he also created history by becoming the first batter to be involved in two 100-plus partnerships against Delhi Capitals in a single IPL season.Earlier in the tournament, Samson scored an unbeaten 115 against Delhi Capitals in Chennai and followed it up with another century, 101 against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede Stadium. He also crossed the milestone of 5,000 IPL runs during CSK’s clash against Kolkata Knight Riders in April 2026.
Samson’s season, however, did not begin smoothly. Having arrived in a blockbuster trade involving Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, he started IPL 2026 with three single-digit scores, all ending in defeats for CSK. Since then, the wicketkeeper-batter has transformed his campaign, registering three 50-plus scores in his last seven innings, including the decisive unbeaten 87 against Delhi Capitals.Aaron Finch heaped praise on Sanju Samson, calling him the superstar of Chennai Super Kings, “He missed out the first couple of games, didn’t he? All of a sudden there was a massive panic: “What has CSK done, they’ve got Sanju Samson and he’s not performing. Two games in T20 is nothing. To go right through a season ultra-consistent is so difficult. You probably can’t underestimate the pressure on somebody going into a team like CSK. Being a huge marquee signing particularly when you have traded someone like Jadeja out of the side as well,” Finch said on ESPNcricinfo. “Although he (Samson) had a dream run at the end of the T20 World Cup and then he’s come in at CSK and missed out a couple of times, there will still be some pride and pressure and almost some feeling that you can tend to overplay it slightly in your own head that you want to get to a new franchise and really lay down a marker and say ‘I’m here’, This is what you’re traded for and the superstar that you’ve been crying out for. So, the fact that he’s batting on a different level is great to see,” he added.
