Sanju Samson misses RR-LSG clash; Riyan Parag leads team again

Sanju Samson misses RR-LSG clash; Riyan Parag leads team again
19 Apr 2025

Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson is missing the IPL 2025 match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Jaipur.

The reason for his absence is an abdominal injury he sustained during a recent game against the Delhi Capitals.

Vice-captain Riyan Parag has taken over as captain for this fixture.

Meanwhile, 14-year-old left-handed batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi at 14 days and 23 days old, becomes the youngest player to play in the IPL.

He's on the Royals' impact sub list and is expected to come in when they bat.

Suryavanshi set to make history as IPL's youngest debutant
Young talent

"We were looking to bowl, it is a little bit warm under lights, should be better than the last time. Vaibhav the youngster comes in," Parag said during the toss.

Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Kunal Singh Rathore

LSG skipper Rishabh Pant has opted to bat first after winning the toss. "We're going to bat first, wicket is looking dry so we want to take advantage. No dew so why not bat first. General thought process was to take the positives."

Samson's season and RR's current standing
Team performance

Samson has been a key performer for RR this season, scoring the second-most runs (224) in seven innings at an average of 37.33.

Despite solid contributions from him and top-scorer Yashasvi Jaiswal (233 runs), no other RR batter has crossed the 200-run mark so far.

As a result, the team currently sits eighth on the IPL 2025 points table, with just two wins and a better run rate than the ninth and 10th-placed teams.

Samson's injury details
Injury impact

As mentioned, Samson had to retire hurt in his last match against Delhi Capitals, after scoring 31 runs off 19 balls.

He seemed to be in discomfort after an attempted cut off spinner Vipraj Nigam, prompting a physio check on his left side around the rib area.

Nevertheless, he faced another ball before retiring hurt soon after.

Additionally, Samson began IPL 2025 with an index finger injury, restricting him to just batting for the first three matches.

Here are the Playing XIs
Playing XIs

Lucknow Super Giants (Playing XI): Aiden Markram, Mitchell Marsh, Nicholas Pooran, Rishabh Pant (wk/c), David Miller, Abdul Samad, Ravi Bishnoi, Shardul Thakur, Prince Yadav, Digvesh Singh Rathi, Avesh Khan.

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubham Dubey, Riyan Parag (c), Nitish Rana, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Sandeep Sharma, Tushar Deshpande.