Riyan Parag is going to captain the Rajasthan Royals for the first three IPL 2025 games. These games are against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders (who won last time), and Chennai Super Kings. This news came out Thursday.
Sanju Samson, who usually leads the team and scores runs, will still play but won’t keep wickets or field until he’s fully recovered. Once he’s good to go, he’ll be back as captain.
Samson got hurt during the T20I series against England earlier in the year. The Royals said he’s not quite 100% yet.
💪 Update: Sanju will be playing our first three games as a batter, with Riyan stepping up to lead the boys in these matches! 💗 pic.twitter.com/FyHTmBp1F5
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) March 20, 2025
This is the first time Riyan Parag will be in charge since he started playing for the Royals in 2019. He had a rough start and got a lot of flak for not scoring many runs in his first five seasons. But last year, he really turned things around and was one of the best players in the league.
Last year, This player got 573 runs in 16 games, hitting the ball at a rate of almost 150 (149.3).
Samson just rejoined the Royals this week after getting his finger fixed last month.
He’s 30 years old and finished getting better at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru. He was at the Royals’ first practice on Monday.
Samson’s finger was hurt when Jofra Archer hit him with a bouncer during a T20I game against England. He had surgery to fix it. Dhruv Jurel will probably be the one keeping wickets for the first three games while Samson is out.
The Royals, who won the IPL way back in 2008, start this season against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad on March 23.
