Why does Riyan Parag not captain against PBKS in the 2025 Indian Premier League?

Sanju Samson took Riyan Parag’s place as the Rajasthan Royals’ (RR) captain for their IPL 2025 matchup with PBKS. Sanju Samson rejoined the team as the season’s full-time captain, but Parag led the first champions in their opening three games. In place of Parag, who led RR against SRH, KKR, and CSK, respectively, the wicketkeeper batsman walked out to the toss.

It wasn’t ideal for the WK hitter to sustain an injury prior to the season. His match fitness raised questions on his participation in the IPL 2025’s first games. But by using a mathematical strategy, RR was able to obtain Samson’s contributions. Sanju was permitted to play as a pure hitter, and Parag was elected captain.

Samson was supposed to receive permission to keep wickets from the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence. The great athlete was reportedly prohibited from wearing gloves until he had recovered from his injury. The RR star came back to the side as captain after finishing his recuperation. The Indian WK batter performed like a pure batter in the first three games.

The mixed bag of Riyan Parag‘s IPL 2025 career as an RR captain

In order to allow an additional bowler to take the field while Samson was out, RR utilised him as an impact substitute. RR lost badly in the first three games and defeated CSK in a thrilling match. Because of the conflicting reactions, Riyan’s captaincy was quite the experience.

He received criticism for several of his choices, like as not giving Tushar Deshpande enough overs against KKR. Other choices, such as bowling Sandeep Sharma over Jofra Archer in the final over of the match versus CSK, were hailed as audacious and wise.

However, Rahul Dravid commended Parag’s leadership, saying he had performed admirably in the early going. According to the RR Head Coach, Parag performed admirably by adjusting to the new position. Dravid thought it was beneficial to introduce Riyan to the new position so he could develop his leadership skills.