By Karan Agrawal 
The 2008 IPL champions Rajasthan Royals on Thursday announced that the team will be without the services of regular captain Sanju Samson for the first three matches this season as the 30-year-old wicketkeeper batter is still recovering from a finger injury that he sustained during the T20I series against England earlier this year with Riyan Parag taking over as captain. However, Sanju has made rapid progress considering the fact that his availability for the start of the upcoming IPL season was under the scanner as the Rajasthan Royals skipper is yet to clear the wicket-keeping fitness test convincingly. In a video posted on the official social media handles of RR Sanju can be heard saying “I’m yet to be fully fit for the next three games.”
The Decision
“There are many leaders in this team. Over the last few years, there have been some great people who have taken care of this environment really nicely. For the next three games, Riyan will be leading the team. I expect everyone to support him and be with him,” he added. RR will take on SRH in their opening match on Sunday ( March 23) with the possibility of Samson playing as a pure batter, potentially coming in as an impact substitute at least for the first three matches.
The Role
With Samson deciding not to donn the wicketkeeping gloves for the first three matches the onus will be on Dhruv Jurel who has been an integral part of Rajasthan Royals for the last couple of years and has delivered match-winning performances while batting in the lower middle order to fulfill Samson’s role behind the stumps. If we talk about other wicketkeeping options in the 20-member squad compiled by RR for IPL 2025 the Men In Pink have the likes of 22-year-old Kunal Rathore who made his debut in domestic cricket for Rajasthan in 2022.
Rajasthan Royals Squad
Sanju Samson (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Wainindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Nitish Rana, Tushar Deshpande, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Charak, Fazal Farooqi, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kwena Maphaka, Kunal Rathore, Ashok Sharma.