The team finished 9th on the points table in the last season.
The Rajasthan Royals (RR) have been one of the teams making the headlines in the recent past, but for all the wrong reasons. And it happens to be weeks before the IPL retention deadline. A series of incidents started when skipper Sanju Samson expressed his intentions to be released from the franchise to seek opportunities elsewhere.
Head coach Rahul Dravid parted ways soon after, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jake Lush McCrum followed suit in a few weeks. All these actions indicate unrest in the franchise, which is never a good sign ahead of the start of IPL 2026.
Letting go of players is never an easy feeling. But cricket is a sport which is played on more than just emotion, and hence, franchises have to let some players loose. Though there isn’t just one factor for a franchise to let go of a player, the most important might be the team combination.
With everything that’s going on in the news, the Rajasthan Royals have the potential to see some light in the dark. Kumar Sangakkara, who has known the franchise inside out, has taken over as the head coach.
The franchise lost Jos Buttler after the 2024 season. They did try to get him back in the auction, but were outweighed by the Gujarat Titans, who sealed the deal for a whopping INR 15.75 crore. However, considering that Sanju Samson’s wish to look for a different franchise holds, RR would be out of their two pillars on the field in two consecutive seasons.
But this is where the Royals have an opportunity to step back and think constructively. The champions of the maiden IPL season have got one of the finest young talents. Players like Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag, and Dhruv Jurel would be a fantastic Indian core to invest in. The franchise can aim at thinking long-term and make their plans accordingly.
All said and done, the Rajasthan Royals would have to release quite a few players from their current squad of 20 to rebuild a solid team.
Here is a list of some of the players who could be on their list to be released ahead of the IPL 2026 auction:
Considering the possibility that the wicketkeeper-batter from Kerala is not traded and enters the auction, it would be a humongous opportunity for other franchises. This is most likely to happen after Samson’s wish to look for newer opportunities.
The left-arm pacer was a part of five matches in the last season, but could not make an impact as he ended with zero wickets in the campaign. With the likes of other left-arm pacers in the mix, it would make sense for the franchise to let go of the Afghanistan speedster.
The Sri Lankan mystery spinner has not held a lot of mystery against batters in the IPL recently. In 11 games in the last season, he could scalp only 11 wickets and gave away runs at an economy rate of almost 10 runs. Rajasthan Royals could look at other potential spinners.
Though this might come as a surprise to fans, the English speedster has suffered from a lot of injuries in the recent past. He featured in 12 matches in 2025, but could gather only 11 wickets to his name. The franchise would like a more consistent option.
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After the retentions and releases, here’s how the Rajasthan Royals squad might look:
Riyan Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Shimron Hetmyer, Akash Madhwal, Kwena Maphaka, Dhruv Jurel, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shubham Dubey, Wanindu Hasaranga, and Tushar Deshpande.
Sanju Samson, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Maheesh Theekshana, Jofra Archer, Kunal Rathore, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Nandre Burger, Ashok Sharma, and Kumar Kartikeya.
This is one of the questions the management will have to ponder upon. Last season, they handed over the captaincy to Riyan Parag in the absence of Samson. But it would be debatable to entrust the youngster with the responsibility for the entire season.
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