Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], April 21 (ANI): Rajasthan Royals (RR) will line up without their captain, Sanju Samson, for their upcoming away fixture against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) on Thursday in the ongoing 18th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

This will be the second successive fixture that Samson will miss for Rajasthan due to a side injury he sustained during the Royals' Super Over defeat to Delhi Capitals (DC). Rajasthan released a statement providing an update on Samson's current situation, confirming that he is undergoing rehabilitation and will not travel to Bengaluru.

'Samson is currently undergoing recovery and will remain at the team's home base (Jaipur) with select RR medical staff. As part of his ongoing rehab process, he will not travel to Bangalore for the upcoming match against RCB. The team management is monitoring his progress closely and will take a game-by-game approach regarding his return to action,' the franchise said in a statement as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.

With Samson ruled out of the fixture, Riyan Parag will serve as the stand-in skipper for the franchise. Parag has a fair share of experience in leading the Royals. He took up the responsibility in the early phase of the tournament when Samson was recovering from a finger injury, which he picked up during India's five-match T20I home series against England.

Parag, as captain, has mustered 105 runs in four games at a strike rate of 147.88. Under his leadership, Rajasthan emerged victorious in just one game out of the opening three fixtures. He returned to lead Rajasthan against the Lucknow Super Giants, which turned out to be a nail-biting thriller.

During the 181-run chase, Rajasthan exercised dominance throughout the innings but floundered towards the end. With nine required in the final over, Avesh Khan nailed his yorkers to pull LSG out of jail by securing a 2-wicket triumph. As of now, Rajasthan occupies the eighth spot with four points and six defeats with a negative run rate of 0.633. (ANI)