Former cricketers Michael Vaughan and Simon Doull believe that Chennai Super Kings captain Ruturaj Gaikwad would be feeling ‘threatened’ by Sanju Samson because of the latter’s leadership credentials in the IPL. Vaughan thinks that Samson being the likely long-term replacement for franchise legend MS Dhoni would make Gaikwad watch over his shoulder.
Vaughan and Doull were discussing Samson on a Cricbuzz show when Gaikwad became the subject.
“What about the captain, Gaikwad? Do you think he feels threatened [by Samson]?” Vaughan asked Doull.
“Absolutely,” the ex-New Zealand seamer replied.
“So that’s another kind of dynamic that you’re looking at,” Vaughan added. “[One of the league’s] youngest captains Gaikwad, he’s done it a bit now and you kind of go,
‘Go on, we’re gonna back you, you’re the captain. But by the way, we’re signing Sanju, who’s a very good captain and he’s a keeper. And guess what? We’ve had a keeper who was a captain for a long period of time and did very well, and we’re gonna try and replace him. But you carry on captaining and hope it doesn’t affect you.'”
Samson was the longest-serving as well as one of the most successful captains (in terms of win rate) at RR, taking them to a final in 2022.
Think about the World Cup: Doull’s advice to Samson
Samson’s CSK career hasn’t gotten off to a good start, with back-to-back single-digit scores in IPL 2026. Doull feels that it’s not easy for Samson, who’s trying to impress his new team with the trust they showed in him, but added that he just needs to take confidence from his three consecutive 50s at the 2026 T20 World Cup.
“Tough challenge for him, and it’s one of those situations you find yourself in when you’re not desperate, but when you want to play for a certain side and you want to put on a show,” Doull said before Friday’s match against Punjab Kings. “I mean, he is a South boy, isn’t he? He is a Kerala boy. He wants to put on a show. I think he feels like he’s more at home. In the South, the trade happened; it was a big trade as we’ve talked about, you’ve lost 2 high quality players for one player. So the pressure’s quite enormous, the pressure of maybe what they see him as in the future as well. But he just got to think back to a few weeks ago, doesn’t he? And how was he playing in the last 3 games [in the T20 World Cup].”
