Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson has been ruled out of the 36th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The wicketkeeper batter had suffered an abdominal injury in RR’s last match against the Delhi Capitals and had to retire midway through his innings.
Sanju Samson out with injury
After the game, Samson stated that he was all right. But Rahul Dravid contradicted the statement. RR head coach shared that Samson had undergone scans, and they were still awaiting results. Therefore, they can only assess whether he’ll play against LSG once Samson’s given a clean bill of health.
“Sanju experienced a bit of pain in the abdominal area. So we have gone for scans. He has done some scans today, so we are waiting for the results of those scans. And then once we get a bit more clarity around the scans and the severity of (the injury), we’ll take a decision going forward, and we’ll see what happens,” Dravid had told reporters yesterday.
As it turns out, Samson can’t play. At least, not yet. According to ESPNcricinfo, the opener will have to sit out in Jaipur.
Riyan Parag to lead again; Vaibhav Suryavanshi might play
This means that Riyan Parag will lead RR once again. The all-rounder had captained the side in the first three matches of the IPL 2025 season due to Samson’s finger injury and will once again don the captaincy hat.
Furthermore, Vaibhav Suryavanshi will make his IPL debut against LSG. The 14-year-old is an opener by trade, therefore making him a like-for-like replacement for Samson. RR had two other options in Kunal Singh Rathod and Shubham Dubey, but both of them are middle-order batters.
RR Playing XI vs LSG
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Riyan Parag (c), Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer✈️, Wanindu Hasaranga✈️, Jofra Archer✈️, Maheesh Theekshana✈️, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande
Impact Subs: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Kumar Kartikeya, Kunal Singh Rathore, Akash Madhwal
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