Rajasthan Royals finished ninth last season and fans weren’t happy at all. The team needed big changes after such a disappointing IPL 2025 campaign. Now RR has pulled off some massive trades that nobody saw coming honestly.
Rajasthan Royals Make Shocking Captain Trade
The biggest news broke when Sanju Samson got traded to Chennai Super Kings. Samson was RR’s captain, but couldn’t lift the team from the bottom positions. CSK grabbed him hoping he would perform better in the yellow jersey there.
In return, the Royals brought Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran from CSK together. Jadeja even took a pay cut from Rs 18 crore to Rs 14 crore. Curran adds quality pace bowling that RR lacked throughout last season badly.
Donovan Ferreira joined from Delhi Capitals while Nitish Rana went the other way. These trades completely changed how the IPL 2026 RR squad will look now.
RR Team for IPL 2026
Retained Players:
- Ravindra Jadeja (trade in)
- Sam Curran (trade in)
- Donovan Ferreira (trade in)
- Yashasvi Jaiswal
- Vaibhav Suryavanshi
- Dhruv Jurel
- Riyan Parag
- Shimron Hetmyer
- Shubham Dubey
- Yudhvir Singh
- Jofra Archer
- Tushar Deshpande
- Sandeep Sharma
- Kwena Maphaka
Released Players:
- Sanju Samson (trade out)
- Nitish Rana (trade out)
- Wanindu Hasaranga
- Maheesh Theekshana
- Fazalhaq Farooqi
- Akash Madhwal
- Kumar Kartikeya
- Kunal Rathore
- Ashok Sharma
Released Players Who Left the RR Squad
Royals released some expensive overseas players who didn’t deliver much. Wanindu Hasaranga from Sri Lanka got released despite being a top spinner. Maheesh Theekshana also left along with Afghan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi from their team.
These three cost a lot of money but never won games when it mattered. RR needs that money freed up for better buys in the mini-auction. Sometimes you gotta let go of big names who aren’t performing anymore.
Young Stars Staying With Rajasthan Royals
Yashasvi Jaiswal stays with RR after scoring tons of runs last season. The left-handed opener smashes bowlers from ball one every single match. Vaibhav Suryavanshi, just 14 years old, also remains in the team surprisingly.
This kid scored the fastest IPL century by any Indian batter ever recorded. Riyan Parag and Dhruv Jurel both earned Rs 14 crore each for IPL 2026. These four youngsters form the base RR will build their new squad around.
RR have Rs 16.05 crore left for the mini-auction coming up. That’s enough money to buy two quality players who can win matches.
