Sanju Samson, the full-time captain and wicketkeeper for the Rajasthan Royals (RR), has visited the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) to obtain complete approval to keep wickets during the current Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. The wicketkeeper-batter took a plane from Guwahati to Bengaluru today after RR defeated Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in order to get tested and get the CoE managers’ consent.
Due to prior surgery on his right index finger, the RR captain was only partially permitted to participate in the 2025 IPL season. He had been playing as a specialist batter, but now he wants to get the go-ahead from the Sport Science wing to start doing all the things again, including keeping wickets.
“He is anticipated to return as captain from the RR’s next match, which is almost a week away,” a source told, adding that he will ask for permission to do so for the remaining games.
Riyan Parag has been captaining the squad in Samson’s absence, and Dhruv Jurel has taken over wicketkeeping duties.
On Sunday, March 23, while playing exclusively as a batter, the Keralan batsman scored a half-century (66) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in a defeat. Samson was unable to get going in the team’s second game against KKR, scoring only 13 runs. Despite having a strong start in the most recent game against CSK, he was unable to score more than 20 runs.
Following a difficult start to the season with two straight losses, RR defeated CSK in Guwahati to earn their first victory of the year.
“It felt really long, even though it was only two games. We continue to believe we were 20 short. In the middle overs, we lost a few wickets in quick succession. But we did a great job bowling. We’ve had two difficult games, but we talked about putting those games behind us, coming in with a new attitude, and playing well as a team,” Parag remarked following the victory.
Next up for RR is a matchup with Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Mullanpur on Saturday, April 5.
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