Samson ruled out of RR's upcoming clash against RCB; Royals management to take 'game-by-game approach' on injury

Riyan Parag is set to lead Rajasthan Royals once again with captain Sanju Samson set to miss a second consecutive match due to injury. Wicketkeeper-opener Samson had missed Saturday’s home game against Lucknow Super Giants after picking up a side strain in the Royals’ Super Over defeat in their away game against Delhi Capitals.

The 30-year-old, who had smashed 31 off 19 balls against DC before retiring hurt, will continue his rehabilitation in Jaipur while the rest of the squad and support staff travel to Bengaluru for their next fixture, against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the M Chinnaswamy on Thursday.

Pink City se Garden City, chaloooo... ✈️💗 pic.twitter.com/z4A1sihWoT

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 21, 2025

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Samson to remain at Royals’ home base with ‘select medical staff’

“Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson is currently undergoing recovery and will remain at the team’s home base with select RR medical staff. As part of his ongoing rehab process, he will not be travelling to Bangalore for the upcoming match against RCB,” the Royals said in a statement on Monday.

“The team management is monitoring his progress closely and will take a game-by-game approach regarding his return to action,” it further stated.

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, meanwhile, will continue opening alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in Samson’s absence. The 14-year-old had become the youngest ever to play in an IPL match after making his debut against LSG on Saturday, smashing 34 off 20 balls in his maiden outing including a six off his first delivery in the world’s biggest T20 league.

Parag had led the Royals in the first three matches of the season while Samson played as an ‘Impact Sub’ while recovering from a finger injury that he had suffered during the T20I series against England in February.

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Samson led the side for the first time this season in their thumping 50-run victory over Punjab Kings at Mullanpur’s Maharaja Yadavindra Singh Stadium, the latter’s home ground.

RR, however, find themselves needing to win ever match in the remainder of the league stage if they are to keep their hopes of reaching the playoffs for the third time in the last four seasons alive.

The 2008 IPL champions currently are eighth on the points table, level on four points with last year’s runner-up Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and five-time champions Chennai Super Kings, albeit with a better Net Run Rate (NRR) than them.

What further hurt the side was the fact that they fell marginally short while chasing sub-200 targets in each of their last two fixtures. This despite the fact that they were in cruise-mode for a majority of the two chases, only to be halted on their tracks by DC’s Mitchell Starc and LSG's Avesh Khan .