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Sanju Samson returns to Rajasthan Royals after passing his fitness test. He missed five IPL 2025 matches due to a side strain. RR, led by Riyan Parag, struggled and got eliminated.
Sanju Samson holds his side after getting injured in the game vs DC (Picture credit: BCCI)
Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson has passed his fitness test and is set to return to the team’s playing 11 for their match against Punjab Kings (PBKS) at Jaipur’s Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Sunday.
Samson missed RR’s last five matches in IPL 2025 with a side strain, which forced him to retire hurt during his innings of 31 (19) against Delhi Capitals. RR lost that match despite being on top, and won only one of the next five, getting eliminated from the playoff race in the process. Young Riyan Parag led the team in Samson’s absence but couldn’t stop the team from losing regular close matches.
“I passed my fitness test, so I’m available for the game,” Samson said in the pre-match press conference. “Yeah, I think ‘frustrating’ is definitely the right word. It’s been very difficult and challenging to watch the games from the dugout. I missed out on a lot of crucial matches, which made it even tougher. Mentally, it was hard to see the team losing and not be able to contribute on the field. But these things are part of a cricketing career. I’m trying to take it in my stride and focus on the positives.”
RR can only get to a maximum of 10 points now, which won’t be enough to even finish fifth.
“The tournament is always challenging, it’s closely fought. A contest can change with one delivery. We lost four games on the final delivery. So, it is not easy to pinpoint the reason, obviously we made mistakes but at times you lose games even after you’ve done most things right. We want to learn from what we’ve done wrong and after the season we will go back to the drawing board,” Samson said.
It has been a difficult season for the Kerala star. He couldn’t captain RR in their first three games because of an injured finger. The BCCI physios had recommended he only batted and not kept wickets so he played as an Impact Player, with Parag overseeing two losses and a win to start the season.
But more than that, RR’s lack of balance in the team and some surprisingly poor decisions costed them a better chance at qualifying.
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