Captain down! Rajasthan Royals face RCB without Sanju Samson

Rajasthan Royals' captain Sanju Samson is set to miss the upcoming IPL 2025 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru due to a side strain injury. The franchise announced that Samson will remain in Jaipur for recovery, under the supervision of select RR medical staff, and will not be traveling to Bengaluru.

The injury was sustained during a match against Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, where Samson retired hurt after scoring a brisk 31 off 19 balls. RR eventually lost that contest in a nail-biting Super Over.

A statement from the franchise on Monday stated that team management is closely monitoring Samson's progress and will decide on his participation on a game-by-game basis. As a result, Riyan Parag, who has captained the team in Samson's absence for four games, will lead the side against Rajat Patidar's RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

With Samson unavailable, the left-handed batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi will continue to open the innings alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal. Suryavanshi, who made history as the youngest player to feature in the tournament at age 14, played during RR's narrow two-run defeat to Lucknow Super Giants at Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Sanju Samson, presently the second-highest run-getter for RR in IPL 2025, has accumulated 224 runs in seven innings with an impressive average of 37.33. He, along with Riyan Parag and the team's top scorer Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has amassed 307 runs in eight innings, are the only three RR batters to have crossed the 200-run mark this season.

Currently, Rajasthan Royals, the inaugural IPL champions of 2008, find themselves in eighth position on the IPL 2025 points table, with four points. They hold a slight advantage over Chennai Super Kings and Sunrisers Hyderabad due to a better net run rate.