Sanju Samson has received a fitness clearance from the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (formerly National Cricket Academy) and will join Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) camp for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season on March 17.
Sanju Samson to join RR’s camp
Having fractured his right index finger, the 30-year-old has been out of action for 6 weeks. And has been under rehabilitation at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. He was expected to join the RR camp by March 17, and that has come true.
“Samson is joining RR on Monday,” a source told the Times of India.
It was previously reported that the CoE wasn’t sure about Samson being RR’s designated wicketkeeper. That issue still persists. He’s undergoing a test, and we’ll soon get to know whether he’ll be the gloveman or whether Dhruv Jurel will get that responsibility for RR’s opening match against the Sunrisers Hyderabad on March 23.
“He has cleared his fitness test for his batting at the BCCI’s CoE, and now the medical team at the CoE is taking his wicket-keeping test as well before releasing him,” the source added.
While his not wicketkeeping won’t be an issue for RR, Samson’s injury aggravating will be an issue for BCCI. Having become an integral part of the India cricket team’s T20I side, the board definitely wants him fit for the 2026 T20 World Cup.
The ICC tournament is far away, but Samson needs to recover properly to ensure the same injury doesn’t cause him issues down the line.
Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2025
Batters: Sanju Samson (c & wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer✈️, Nitish Rana, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore
All-rounders: Riyan Parag, Wanindu Hasaranga✈️
Bowlers: Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer✈️, Maheesh Theekshana✈️, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqi✈️, Kwena Maphaka✈️, Akash Madhwal, Yudhvir Singh, Kumar Kartikeya, Ashok Sharma
