‘Under Sanju bhaiya…’: Riyan Parag makes special mention of Samson while throwing

New Delhi: rajasthan royals team leader Ryanparag and Sanzhou Samson They formed a strong bond during their time together on the team. Parag has often spoken of how much he learned from Samson during his time with Royals before he moved to Chennai Super Kings last year. During the IPL 2026 match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad, Parag made a special mention of his former captain.After winning the toss and opting to bowl, Parag said: “We will bowl first. We have a new wicket which is being used for the first time this season as well. So hopefully it will be a little sticky at first. We have chased a lot of totals here. We didn’t hit the target in 2024 so hopefully that won’t be the case this time. We have two changes. Brijesh goes out and Tushar Deshpande comes in. Hetty takes a break and Pretorius makes his debut.“Looking back on his journey as captain, he added: “It has been a journey. I was under (Sanju Samson) Bhaiya for the longest time and then Sangar (Kumar Sangakkara, head coach and director of cricket) did a good job of raising me up in terms of all the decisions and including me in all the tactical and strategic meetings. Now I think I have taken on the responsibility. A lot of tough decisions had to be taken but it’s nice to be here.”After Samson was traded to Chennai Super Kings, Parag was named captain of Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2026.Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Ishan Kishan also confirmed two changes in the team.“We have two changes compared to the last game, (Praful) Hinge comes in (veteran Jaydev Unadkat misses out and Harshal Patel is one of the influential players),” Ishan said.Talking about leadership, he added: “I think I have been doing this for a long time. I am the captain of the India under-19 team and I have been doing it for my country and I think it makes you more aware of the situation and more focused on the game. You want to do more for your team, Because it’s never about individual performance; it’s always about teamwork and so we’ve done that and I think we’re doing it in a really good way, which I think obviously makes a difference when you’re the team captain. It shows his maturity and the player has grown a bit now. So it definitely helped me a little bit over the past few years as I became a leader on the team and did a good job for the team. Which brings me back to India. So what more can you ask for? “Rajasthan Royals (Starting XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (w), Riyan Parag (c), Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Sandeep Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi, Tushar Deshpande.Rajasthan Royals Subs: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Ravi Singh, Shubham Dubey, Brijesh SharmaSunrisers Hyderabad (XI): Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan (W/C), Heinrich Klaasen, Salil Arora, Aniket Verma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harsh Dubey, Shivang Kumar, Praful Hinge, Eshan Malinga.SRH Impact Subs: Smaran Ravichandran, Sakib Hussain, Liam Livingstone, Shivam Mavi, Harshal Patel.