Regular captain Sanju Samson has sustained a side strain, according to Riyan Parag, the interim captain of the Rajasthan Royals. This has made it challenging for the RR team management to set a return date for his availability in the IPL 2025. With the RR medical staff in Jaipur, Samson, who quit due to injury after suffering pain while batting against the Delhi Capitals, is now rehabilitating.

When Samson tried a cut shot off Vipraj Nigam's bowling against DC, he was clearly in pain. After that, the physio inspected the area around his ribs on the left side. Shortly thereafter, Samson resigned and never again stepped out to bat.

Parag stated after winning the toss and choosing to bowl at the Chinnaswamy Stadium against Royal Challengers Bengaluru, "We are taking it game by game, and Sanju bhaiya is recovering. He has a side strain. We hope he will be back soon."

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On the night before the game, RR head coach Rahul Dravid made a similar observation regarding Samson's condition.

Dravid stated that Sanju Samson's fitness, the regular RR captain, is being evaluated every day. Sanju, I believe, sort of picked up a bit of a side issue with the game against Delhi (Capitals) and he couldn't play the last game and in this game as well. Our medical staff sort of didn't deem him to be in shape for this game.

"Therefore, we decided to follow the medical advice and avoid putting him in danger by having him travel — by taking two more flights and being here. In order to treat him and attempt to get him back as soon as possible, we held the physio back. We're analyzing it on a daily basis."

Samson's comeback date was not specified by the former India coach.

"I can't say exactly when he will be fit, but we are doing our best, you know, obviously we have to play here, then we have a game on April 27th, and after that we have a few games quickly and then we have a gap.

"Therefore, we'll just have to wait and see how things turn out. He honestly wasn't suited for this game and didn't make the trip here, he continued.

Even though a couple of games haven't gone the team's way, Riyan Parag has filled in well as the team's captain in Samson's absence, according to Dravid.

"Riyan stepped in very well as the vice-captain, while Sanju is still the captain of the team. Even in the first three games, when Sanju was unable to field due to the finger injury, I believe Riyan captained four of them.

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