RR star to miss franchise's next IPL 2025 match against RCB

Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain Sanju Samson will miss his side's upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in Bengaluru on Thursday, April 24.

The franchise have revealed that Samson is undergoing recovery and won't be traveling to Bengaluru for the match, later this week. Riyan Parag will continue to lead the team in his absence.

RR said in a statement released on Monday (via ESPN Cricinfo).

"Samson is currently undergoing recovery and will remain at the team's home base (Jaipur) with select RR medical staff. He is currently undergoing recovery and will remain at the team’s home base with select RR medical staff. As part of his ongoing rehab process, he will not be traveling to Bangalore for the upcoming match against RCB."

Samson injured the left side around his rib during RR's IPL match against Delhi Capitals (DC) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium on Wednesday, April 16, and had to retire hurt during his side's chase of 189 runs.

The 30-year-old missed the team's next match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Jaipur, with Parag leading in his absence. Prior to the match, RR head coach Rahul Dravid had said that Samson had been experiencing abdominal pain and had undergone scans.

RR look to get back to winning ways in Bengaluru

After suffering four successive defeats, RR will arrive in Bengaluru in desperate need of a win to stay in the hunt for a playoffs spot. They are currently in eighth in the points table with four points in eight matches.

The inaugural champions suffered two close defeats in their previous two matches. Needing nine runs to win off the last over against LSG, they fell short by two runs due to a brilliant over by Avesh Khan.

In their game against DC, RR needed the same number of runs to win, but could not cross the line thereby forcing the match to go into a Super Over. The RR trio of Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer and Yashasvi Jaiswal got 11 runs in the Super Over, which did not prove sufficient as DC chased it down with two balls to spare.

RCB go into the match against RR with 10 points in eight matches. However, each of their five wins in IPL 2025 has come away from home. They have lost three home matches to Gujarat Titans, Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings.