Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra believes Rajasthan Royals’ batting would be bleak without the services of their full-time captain, Sanju Samson. The wicket-keeper bat suffered a side strain while batting against Delhi Capitals and was forced to retire hurt.

Samson then didn’t play against Lucknow Super Giants and he will also not feature against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Thursday, as Riyan Parag would continue to lead in his place. 

Samson has scored 224 runs in seven matches at an average of 37.33 and a strike rate of 143.88 in the ongoing IPL 2025.

“It’s a royal encounter – RCB vs RR. Both are ‘Royal’ teams. The Royal teams’ simple story is that one does not have Sanju. The team becomes half when Sanju isn’t there. The batting is not working in any case. Although Vaibhav Suryavanshi played well, will he keep hitting like that always?” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

The renowned commentator questioned RR batters’ consistency as they have failed to close out the last couple of matches despite being in a shoo-in position.

“Dhruv Jurel is unable to finish matches. Shimron Hetmyer, the only overseas batter, is unable to finish matches. Yashasvi (Jaiswal) scores runs but gets out at the wrong time. Riyan Parag bats decently but doesn’t finish the match. So, overall, batting has been a struggle, and without Sanju Samson, they will struggle even more,” he observed.

Meanwhile, all the RR bowlers are conceding their runs at an economy rate of more than nine and thus the bowling is also not looking good.

“The bowling is not good in any case. Let’s be fair, Jofra (Archer) is good, but Sandeep Sharma has gone for a lot of runs now. Tushar Deshpande is slightly on the expensive side. (Maheesh) Theekshana and (Wanindu) Hasaranga, that’s it, your bowling is over. So a lot of might is not being seen in this team,” he said in the same video.

RR is in a must-win territory as they have managed only two wins in eight games.