Sanju Samson made his Indian Premier League debut with the Rajasthan Royals in 2013 starting one of the most beautiful partnerships in his cricketing career.
IPL 2024 was one of the best seasons for Samson with the bat as he amassed 531 runs at an impressive average of 48.27 and a strike rate of 153.46. He also led the team to the playoffs for the second time after taking over the reins in IPL 2021.
Samson, who has become a household name within the Royals, was retained by the team ahead of the IPL 2025 season for a sum of INR 18 crore.
Here are some of the records that Sanju Samson holds for the Rajasthan Royals.
Most seasons
Sanju Samson made his IPL debut with Rajasthan Royals in 2013 at the age of 18. Since then, he has represented the team in the IPL for 10 seasons, the most by any player for the Royals.
The quartet of Ajinkya Rahane, Jos Buttler, Shane Watson and Stuart Binny are in second place having spent seven IPL seasons with the Royals.
Most matches
Samson has played a total of 146 matches, the most by any player, for the Royals over 10 seasons with the team.
His most number of games for the team in a single season came in his debut year, 2013. He played 17 matches for the Royals that year, including six games in the Champions League Twenty20 2013. Samson matched that tally during the IPL 2022 season when the Royals reached the final.
Ajinkya Rahane is the only other Royals player to have completed a century of matches for the team with 106 games.
Most runs
Sanju Samson is on top of the run-scoring charts for the Rajasthan Royals with a tally of 3,934 runs from 141 visits to the crease at an average of 31.72 and a strike rate of 140.55.
He has also scored two hundreds and 25 fifties for the team with his highest individual score of 119 off 63 balls coming against Punjab Kings at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL 2021.
Rahane is second in this list as well with 3,098 runs from 99 innings for the Royals.
Most fifty-plus scores
Samson has registered 27 scores of fifty or above playing for Rajasthan Royals, the most by any player. His tally includes two centuries and 25 fifties.
The Kerala batter’s maiden fifty for the Royals came in their four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the 2013 edition, his debut season. His first hundred for the Jaipur-based team came against Sunrisers Hyderabad in IPL 2019.
Samson scored five fifties in IPL 2024, the most for him in a single season of the competition.
Jos Buttler, with seven hundreds and 18 fifties, is next on the list of most fifty-plus scores for the Royals with a tally of 25.
Most matches as captain
After being appointed as the captain of the Royals before the start of IPL 2021, Samson has spent four seasons at the helm leading the side in 61 matches.
During IPL 2024, he went past the legendary Shane Warne, the first captain of the franchise, who was in charge of the side for 56 matches.
Under Samson, the Royals qualified for the playoffs in two seasons, including a final appearance in IPL 2022, their first since the inaugural edition in 2008.
Joint-most wins as captain
Samson has captained the Royals to 31 wins in 61 matches, which is the joint-most for the side along with Warne. He won 10 matches as captain of the Royals in IPL 2022, his most in a single season.
Most dismissals
Samson has effected 80 dismissals from 111 innings behind the stumps, the most by any Royals player. His exploits with the gloves include 64 catches and 16 stumpings.
He also holds the record for most dismissals by a Royals player in a single IPL season with 16 dismissals, 14 catches and two stumpings, in the 2022 edition.
Dishant Yagnik is second on the overall list with 19 dismissals from 26 innings.
Most century partnerships
Samson has also figured in the most number of century partnerships for the Royals with 13 stands of 100 or more. IPL 2024 saw the Royals captain occupy the crease in a partnership of 100 or more on four occasions, his most in a single season.
