According to an ESPNCricinfo report on Friday, Indian Premier League (IPL) team the Rajasthan Royals have decided to name Riyan Parag as their new captain for the forthcoming campaign. Sanju Samson will be replaced for the upcoming season by Parag, who has been with RR for a very long time.
The personnel change follows RR’s trade of Samson to the Chennai Super Kings. Samson was exchanged for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran by RR, but they chose to designate leadership from within their core group, particularly from their local players.
Being the captain of the RR team is nothing new to Parag. Samson missed eight games last season because of an injury, and he took over of the Royals. But he lost six of the eight games he played as captain during that time.
The report also stated that before making a final decision, new head coach Kumar Sangakkara interviewed a certain group of players and chose Parag from among them.
With head coach Rahul Dravid leaving after the 2025 season, the Rajasthan Royals are going through a transitional period with the upcoming season.
RR only won four of the 14 games they played previous season, finishing ninth. They haven’t won the IPL title since the inaugural season.
Parag has played for RR in all seven seasons after making his IPL debut in 2019. He also played in every game during the previous two seasons. His best run total of 573, achieved at an average of 52.09 and a strike of 149.21, came in the 2024 edition. In all, he has amassed 1566 runs and seven wickets in 84 games for RR.
Samson played for the Royals for 11 seasons, but after the last IPL season, expressed his desire to be released by the team as he was looking for a change.
