Rajasthan Royals have taken an unusual approach due to Sanju Samson’s injury. In the first three matches of this IPL season, Samson will play solely as a batsman—without keeping or fielding. Since the regular captain won’t be on the field during the bowling innings, Riyan Parag will take over as Rajasthan’s skipper for these games.
The presence of the ‘Impact Player’ rule in the IPL allows Rajasthan to utilize Samson in this manner. Once he fully recovers, he will resume his captaincy duties.
Samson sustained a finger injury in the final T20 match against England last month when he was struck by a Jofra Archer delivery. He later underwent surgery and completed his rehabilitation at the Center of Excellence in Bengaluru before rejoining the Rajasthan squad. However, keeping or fielding still poses a risk for him at this stage.
This will be Parag’s first time leading an IPL team. The franchise retained him for ₹14 crore after his stellar performance in the last season, where he scored 573 runs. Although new to IPL captaincy, Parag has prior leadership experience in domestic cricket, having captained Assam in 17 T20 matches, winning 10 of them. His batting in those games was impressive, with 738 runs at an average of 67.09 and a strike rate of 167.72, including nine fifties.
If Samson requires more than three matches to recover, Parag’s captaincy stint could be extended. Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel will take over wicketkeeping duties for Rajasthan during this period.
