Rajasthan Royals Announce Riyan Parag as Captain Replacing Sanju Samson for IPL 2025

The Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals have today officially announced Riyan Parag as the new captain for IPL 2025 replacing Sanju Samson for the first three matches of the season as Sanju continues to recover fully from injury.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has given full permission to the Indian team wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson to play in the IPL 2025.

In such scenario, the Rajasthan Royals have today officially announced Riyan Parag as the captain of the franchise for the first three matches of the season while Sanju will only play as a batter only and is not fully fit to perform his wicketkeeper role or field.

Riyan will be leading the team in their season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad followed by two home matches against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) on 23rd, 26th and 30th March respectively.

The franchise posted in their official press release, “Rajasthan Royals have announced that Riyan Parag will lead the team for the first three matches of IPL 2025.

They further went on to add that Sanju Samson will continue to play as a batter mainly and will be back leading the team once he is fully fit, “Sanju Samson, an integral part of the Royals set-up, will remain a key contributor with the bat till he gets cleared for wicket-keeping and fielding. He will return as captain once fully fit.”

Riyan Parag had a breakthrough IPL season in 2024

Riyan Parag has been a long part of the Rajasthan Royals franchise and despite several failures, the franchise continued to back until last season when he finally delivered his best IPL season yet, scoring 574 runs in 14 matches with an average of 52.09 and strike rate of 149.22.

Riyan is a capable leader with years of experience of leading the Assam state cricket team in various domestic competitions.

Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2024

Rajasthan Royals had a flying start in the IPL 2024 season winning 8 out of the first 9 matches of the season. However, they went lost the next 4 out of 5 matches with one match abandoned vs KKR that eventually led to Rajasthan finishing 3rd in the points table.

The Royals beat the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Eliminator before finally succumbing to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the qualifier 2. They will be hoping to improve on their performance from last season and look to challenge for their 2nd IPL title.