Go well, Cheta: Samson’s message to KL Rahul ahead of top-four clash

Rajasthan Royals lock horns with the Lucknow Super Giants in a clash that will play a key role in determining the top 4 of IPL 2022 at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday. Both the sides are in contention for a playoff berth. While KL Rahul and co are placed second on the points table with eight wins and four losses, Sanju Samson’s men are third with seven and five. 

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Samson won the toss and elected to bat. 

At the toss, Sanju Samson patted KL Rahul’s back and gave him a good luck message. The RR skipper said ‘Go well, Cheta’. It is a Malyalam word that literally means elder brother. It is used for elder siblings, cousins and so on. 

Samson, 27, and Rahul, 30, have been a part of the national scene for a long time. While the former has played one ODI and 13 T20Is, the LSG skipper has 43 Tests, 42 ODIs and 56 T20Is under his belt. 

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Sanju Samson refers to Rahul as Cheta. 

At the toss, Samson announced that Jimmy Neesham, McCoy Rassie and Kuldeep Sen have been brought into the playing 11 for Rajasthan. For LSG, Ravi Bishnoi came in for Karan Sharma. 

“We are batting first. That’s been our strenght. Couple of changes – Neesham and McCoy Rassie and Sen. Feel that’s the best combination for this game. It’s important to keep a balanced state of mind,” Samson said at the toss. 

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“I wanted to bowl first. Looks like a nice wicket. You don’t want to run away from it, you want to learn from mistakes like that. We need to turn up every game, we had that chat and everyone agreed that a game like that can happen. Karan Sharma misses out, Ravi Bishnoi comes back in,” Rahul said. 

Teams:

Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Quinton de Kock(w), KL Rahul(c), Deepak Hooda, Krunal Pandya, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Jason Holder, Mohsin Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Dushmantha Chameera, Avesh Khan

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler, Sanju Samson(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, James Neesham, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Obed McCoy