KEY TAKEAWAYS:
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A viral video from the KCL 2026 final appears to show Sreesanth deliberately walking past Sanju Samson without a handshake.
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The apparent snub follows Sreesanth’s public claims that he arranged Samson’s career-defining trials with Rajasthan Royals under Rahul Dravid.
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Sreesanth has publicly accused Samson of telling different versions of his IPL discovery story to different audiences.
Did Sreesanth ignore Sanju Samson in the KCL 2026 final?
A clip from the Kerala Cricket League 2026 final presentation ceremony is making the rounds on social media, where Sreesanth is seen walking straight past Sanju Samson on stage without a handshake.
This has sent fans into a frenzy of speculation about a possible falling out between Kerala’s two most celebrated cricket personalities.
Samson was already on the presentation podium alongside the trophy and officials when Sreesanth entered the frame from the right, microphone in hand.
Rather than acknowledging Samson, who was standing right there in his path, Sreesanth walked directly past him and turned his attention to the dignitaries and KCA officials lined up on the other side. He greeted them, shook hands, and engaged in conversation, all with his back and side turned toward Samson.
Social media posts started flooding in, with many asking the same question: “Sreesanth and Sanju Samson ignored the handshakes between each other in the KCL final… Any rift?”
Another fan noted the same and wrote: “Again some issues between both.”
However, @Samsonified9 wrote: “Sreesanth and Sanju Samson are close friends from a long time, it was Sreesanth who handed his debut cap to Sanju. He even advocated for Sanju Samson a lot of times. So this rumor is absolutely baseless, here is a picture to shut the rumours down.”
The backstory: Sreesanth’s public grievance against Samson over IPL credit
Sreesanth has made public statements about Samson in recent months about how the wicketkeeper-batter reached the IPL in the first place.
Sreesanth’s version of events, shared in his own words, involves a conversation with Rahul Dravid. He claims he personally pitched a teenage Samson to Dravid, describing him as a wicketkeeper-batter who had just graduated from KKR’s academy and needed an IPL home.
He even told Dravid that Samson had once hit him for six sixes in six consecutive balls during a local match.
“Rahul bhai looked at me in disbelief: ‘Six? Not one, two, or three, but six sixes off six consecutive balls?’ I said yes, and Rahul bhai laughed, saying, ‘Come on, don’t exaggerate this much! But alright, I’ll look into it, and if possible, we’ll bring him in,'” Sreesanth recalled during an interview with Lallantop.
He went further, detailing how he arranged travel to get Kerala cricketers in front of Dravid at a time when opportunities outside Chennai and Bengaluru franchises were scarce.
“Back then, opportunities for Kerala cricketers were mostly confined to teams like CSK or RCB,” he said.
“When we approached Rajasthan Royals, it wasn’t a straightforward entry. People should know this: we literally arranged and booked tickets through Trade Wings in Bengaluru to send everyone over and get them in front of Rahul bhai.”
What really seemed to sting Sreesanth was Samson’s version of events.
He said: “Sanju, man, what a story you’ve put out there! Claiming Rahul bhai just called you directly and told you to join the team? That’s simply not how things work, Sanju. But anyway, you tell one version to the Hindi audience and an entirely different one in Malayalam. These days, everything is out there on social media.”
Public feuds between legends rarely help anyone
Whatever the truth of the IPL discovery story, the way this is playing out publicly isn’t a good look for either man. Sreesanth’s grievance may well be legitimate; credit does matter, and if he genuinely opened doors for Samson, it’s understandable that silence on the matter feels like erasure.
But airing it across media platforms in multiple languages, and then reportedly blanking Samson on a stage in front of cameras, transforms a personal dispute into a public spectacle that ultimately diminishes both figures.
Samson, for his part, carries the weight of being Kerala’s most celebrated active cricketer right now. The less he engages with this narrative, the better it probably is for him.
For Sreesanth, though, the optics of the KCL presentation moment are not great; walking past someone in front of cameras at a cricket ceremony signals a coldness that fans notice immediately. Kerala cricket has enough challenges building a collective identity without two of its most prominent names making headlines for the wrong reasons.
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Source: sports.yahoo.com
