Sanju Samson, the Rajasthan Royals captain, has asked to be released before the 2026 IPL season, sources say. Samson has been the team’s captain since 2021 and it seems he wants out.
This comes after a poor show by the Royals in 2025 where they finished 9th. Samson played only 9 games that season due to a hand injury. There were also rumors of differences between Samson and head coach Rahul Dravid who had rejoined the Royals after working with the Indian team.
According to reports, Samson wants to open the batting and have the freedom to decide where he bats. But it has become tough for him to do so as Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal have both become established players. There are also said to be other issues between Samson and the team.
In the last few months there were rumors that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are interested in Samson but Royals are keen to retain him. The report also says that the 2008 champions have approached all teams to explore a possible trade.
CSK have publicly said they are interested in Samson but they don’t usually release their own players which makes a direct trade difficult. Royals are not willing to accept an all-cash offer for a player they value as much as Samson who was retained for Rs 18 crore last year.
Even though Samson has asked to be released or traded the team has the last say as he is still under contract till 2027. Rajasthan are in a tough spot: keeping a player who is not happy can cause problems in the dressing room but getting rid of a star player like Samson who they have nurtured over the years is also a tough call.
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Samson is currently at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru where he is part of a basic training program for a select group of players identified by the national selectors. He is likely to be picked for the Asia Cup which starts on September 9 in the UAE.
Before that he will play a few games in the Kerala Cricket League where the Kochi Blue Tigers have selected him for INR 26.8 lakh, the highest price in the tournament.
Royals have two months to decide what to do with Samson before the IPL retention deadline in November.
