Former South African captain Faf du Plessis reckons Chennai Super Kings made a perfect move to acquire the services of Sanju Samson ahead of IPL 2026. Samson was traded in by CSK from RR in exchange for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran ahead of IPL auction.

Samson has been in rich form as he returned with scores of 97(50), 89(42), and 89(46) in the virtual quarterfinals, semifinal and final of the T20 World Cup, respectively. The right-hander was awarded Player of the tournament after he scored 321 runs in five matches at an average of 80.25 and a strike rate of 199.38.

Faf said someone will need to take the gloves from veteran MS Dhoni, once he hangs his IPL boots.

“In terms of keeping, maybe another 10 years MS Dhoni is going to play, but after that, someone else has to take the gloves eventually. And he would be the guy to do it and just step into that seamlessly,” Faf du Plessis said on Star Sports.

The former CSK opener said the franchise’s power-hitting has come in the top-order as players like Shane Watson, Matthew Hayden, Michael Hussey, Murali Vijay, Ruturaj Gaikwad, and Devon Conway delivered consistently.

“It’s a really good trade from CSK. If you look at the superpowers over the years for CSK, you think opening pairs. Be it Vijay and Hussey or myself with Watson and Ruturaj, the iconic opening stands. This will be another one of those even with Rutu at 3. But that top three now looks really well balanced in terms of attacking players,” said Faf (via the aforementioned source).

“The game right now is in a state where, in the powerplay, you need to have some canons at your disposal that can really take the game on. So it’s a great signing from a batting perspective.”

CSK will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against the inaugural champions Rajasthan Royals, at Guwahati on 30th March.