The captain of Rajasthan Royals (RR) Sanju Samson may not keep wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023. Retained by RR for Rs 12 crore, Samson opened up about playing as a fielder, relinquishing the wicketkeeping duties to young Dhruv Jurel, who also told the same to himself. Samson said that he spoke to Jurel especially given that the latter is quite keen to keep the wickets after being recently announced as India’s second-choice Test wicketkeeper.
Samson, however, also hinted that he and Jurel might also share the responsibility of keeping the wickets.
“I haven’t said this on air, but we think where Dhruv Jurel is at this point of his career as a Test keeper, he needs to wear the gloves in IPL. That has been the discussion. I think we will be sharing gloves. I have never captained as a fielder. That might be challenging. I said to him, ‘Dhruv, I understand your way of thinking, and I think as a team leader, you should also keep for a few games.’ We can see how to play around with it, but nothing can come ahead of the team. The team should always come firstly, and individual importance should be given,” said Samson in a chat on Ab de Villiers’ YouTube channel.
Earlier this year, during the home series against England, Jurel made his Test debut. Now, however, he finds himself back on the bench, since Rishabh Pant is fully fit again. Both played in the 1st Test against Australia in Perth; thereafter, he was benched for the Adelaide and Brisbane fixtures.
Jurel won’t see any further action during the series unless there’s an injury situation.
RR IPL 2025 Squad: Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer (Rs. 12.50 crore), Maheesh Theekshana (Rs. 4.4 crore), Wanindu Hasaranga (Rs. 5.25 crore), Akash Madhwal (Rs. 1.20 crore), Kumar Kartikeya (Rs. 30 lakh), Nitish Rana (Rs. 4.20 crore), Tushar Deshpande (Rs. 6.50 crore), Shubham Dubey (Rs. 80 lakh), Yudhvir Singh (Rs. 35 lakh), Fazalhaq Farooqi (Rs. 2 crore), Vaibhav Suryavanshi (Rs. 1.10 crore), Kwena Maphaka (Rs. 1.50 crore), Kunal Rathore (Rs. 30 lakh), Ashok Sharma (Rs. 30 lakh).
