Riyan Parag’s first match as the captain of Rajasthan Royals ended in two losses back to back in IPL 2025. With this, Parag has become the first Assam-origin cricketer to lead an IPL team. Sanju Samson, the regular captain is likely to return on April 5. Regardless of his attempts, the Royals were handed severe thrashings by Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders.
Parag made history as the first male cricketer from Assam to represent the country and bowl in an IPL match when he took the captaincy for the match against Sunrisore Hyderabad on March 23. He became part of elite lists of RR captains along with Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Rahul Dravid, Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane and Saju Samson.
Parag received the interim role after the regular captain shin ailed a finger injury which ruled him out of fielding and keeping. At the age of 30, Samson has served as an Impact Player in both matches and has batted in both.
The young captain holds the unwanted record of the first in Royals history to lose their opening two matches. The first one was a 44 run loss against SRH where RR bled runs conceding 286, the second highest total in IPL history.
Riyan Parag will have the opportunity to lead the Rajasthan Royals for the second time in a row during their showdown with the Chennai Super Kings on March 30th, Guwahati. The captaincy is expected to switch back to Sanju Samson for the game against the Punjab Kings on April 5th at the Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium in Mullanpur.
Samson, who shared the captaincy of RR with Shane Warne, accounts for 31 wins alongside the legendary captain. This makes him the second captain in IPL’s history to lead RR to an IPL final, which he did in 2022. The team bagged its maiden title under the command of Warne in the inaugural season of IPL in 2008.
Shane Warne, 1-1 Shane Watson, 1-1 Rahul Dravid, 2-0 Steve Smith, 2-0 Ajinkya Rahane, 1-1 Sanju Samson, 1-1 Riyan Parag, 0-2
