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Recently, one of the greats of the game and former South Africa cricketer AB de Villiers interacted with Indian wicketkeeper-batter and skipper of Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise, Rajasthan Royals, Sanju Samson. The former Protea international hosted the Indian keeper-batter on his YouTube podcast with the latter sharing insights on the franchise’s plans for the upcoming edition.
However, the IPL 2025 is still far as it is scheduled to kick start from March 14, the discussion comes after the inaugural champions signed several key players on the auction table in November 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It is to be noted that the Royals had retained six players, including Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel and went upto sign 14 more players in the IPL 2025 mega auction.
Sanju Samson to hand over Rajasthan Royals' wicketkeeping duties to Dhruv Jurel in IPL 2025
Speaking on De Villiers podcast ‘360 Show’, Sanju Samson was questioned about continuing to keep wickets with Dhruv Jurel also in the side. This question emerged after the Kerala batter has been the first-choice wicketkeeper for the Royals, whereas Dhruv Jurel also kickstarted his international career as Test wicketkeeper. However, Sanju Samson has openly said that he is happy to sacrifice wicketkeeping for Jurel, further assuring him of a place in the Indian setup.
“I have not said this on air. As I said before, we feel for the players. I think we feel Dhruv Jurel, where he is at his career, he is a Test wicketkeeper. He also needs to wear the gloves in the IPL at some point," said Samson while speaking to AB De Villiers on the latter’s YouTube channel. “That was discussed; we will be sharing gloves; we both will be sharing gloves. I have not captained much as a fielder, but I told him honestly ‘Dhruv, I totally understand from where you come from and what I think about you as a leader, you should keep (the wickets) in some games.’ We will see how to play around with that. Nothing should affect the team; the team comes first," the RR skipper added.
Watch Sanju Samson speak on handing wicketkeeping duties to Dhruv Jurel:
It is to be noted that the side previously had England’s limited-over skipper Jos Buttler in their ranks, who could also keep wickets, but the franchise decided to let go off his services ahead of the mega auction. Speaking of Dhruv Jurel, the Indian youngster has shown positive prospects while keeping in longest format of the game. Apart from that, the Agra-born averages 40.40 in Tests and 45.74 in First-Class cricket.
Rajasthan Royals IPL 2025 squad
Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Sandeep Sharma, Jofra Archer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Maheesh Theekshana, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya, Tushar Deshpande, Nitish Rana, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Shubham Dubey, Yudhvir Charak, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Kwena Maphaka, Ashok Sharma
