Sanju Samson is not captaining Rajasthan Royals. Photo: BCCI
Sanju Samson is not leading Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their first match of IPL 2025 against Surisers Hyderabad (SRH). The wicketkeeper-batsman will come out to bat but as an Impact Player. Riyan Parag has made his captaincy debut and is leading the team in Samson's absence. There is a reason why Samson is not leading the team despite being fit to bat.
The India opener suffered a finger injury during the final T20I of the five-match series against England in February. He underwent surgery for the same and has been out of action since then. While he is cleared to bat, Samson can't keep wickets. Since he isn't completely fit, RR decided to appoint a new captain.
"I am not completely fit for the next three games. But for the next three matches, Riyan Parag will be leading the side. He is well capable of doing it. I expect everyone to support him,” Samson stated in RR's video released recently.
Rajasthan Royals opt to bowl
Riyan Parag won his first toss as the captain and opted to bowl first. Jofra Archer is back in RR's playing XI. "Bowling first. Looks like a dry wicket so we'll have a crack at it later. (On captaincy) Means a lot, started here as a 17 year old. Getting to fill in big shoes, very excited. The impact rule helps with Sanju. We've retained a lot of our core so that helps with the batting order. The other three overseas will be Theekshana, Jofra and Farooqi. Always good to start well, we have practiced a lot," Riyan said at the toss.
A fit-again Pat Cummins is leading the Orange Army. Cummins-led SRH lost to Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2024 final to finish as the runners-up.
Here are playing XIs of both teams -
Rajasthan Royals: Riyan Parag (Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Nitish Rana, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Tushar Deshpande, Sandeep Sharma, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Sunrisers Hyderabad: Pat Cummins (Captain), Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Heinrich Klaasen, Aniket Verma, Abhinav Manohar, Simarjeet Singh, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Shami
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