New Delhi, April 21: Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson will miss his team's upcoming IPL 2025 match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) due to a side strain. The franchise added that as part of recovery, Samson will not travel to Bengaluru and is staying back in Jaipur with select RR medical staff.

The wicketkeeper-opener had picked the injury while playing against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium and was forced to retire hurt after scoring 31 off 19 balls, as RR eventually lost the match in a thrilling Super Over.

"The team management is monitoring his progress closely and will take a game-by-game approach regarding his return to action," said the franchise in its statement on Monday. It also means that Riyan Parag, who’s led RR in four games so far in Samson’s absence, will captain the side against Rajat Patidar-led RCB at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.

Samson not being available for RR against RCB means left-handed batter Vaibhav Suryavanshi, who became the youngest player to feature in the tournament as a 14-year-old during their two-run loss to Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, will continue to open the batting alongside Jaiswal.

Samson is RR's second highest run-getter of IPL 2025 with 224 runs in seven innings at an average of 37.33. He, Parag and RR’s top-scorer of this season Yashasvi Jaiswal (307 runs in eight innings) are the only batters from the side to have made more than 200 runs in the ongoing season.

RR, the inaugural IPL winners in 2008, are at eighth position on the IPL 2025 points table with four points, and are only ahead of Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on the basis of net run rate (NRR).

--IANS

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