Rajasthan Royals Set To Name Riyan Parag As Captain Ahead of IPL 2026
Riyan Parag will be the new captain of Rajasthan Royals (RR) from IPL 2026 onwards. He succeeds Sanju Samson, who moved to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) following a disappointing last season.
Kumar Sangakkara, RR’s head coach, interviewed a few players before finalising Parag as the ideal candidate. He previously led the franchise in eight games, all in 2025, when Samson was out due to an injury, but his team couldn’t win many matches under him.
In Parag’s captaincy, RR could only win two games, though his batting returns were rather impressive. He scored 270 runs at an average of 38.57 and a strike rate of 181.20 across eight innings, including a fifty.
Overall, Riyan Parag has been with the franchise since 2019, and management has backed him over the years despite middling returns as a batter, barring the 2024 season. He has 1566 runs at an average of 26.10 and a strike rate of 141.84 in 72 innings, with seven fifties, for Rajasthan Royals.
Why Rajasthan Royals named Riyan Parag as captain ahead of IPL 2026
Riyan Parag was definitely among the favourites to take over Sanju Samson at the helm, but Rajasthan Royals had a couple of other options. The other likely candidate was Yashasvi Jaiswal, who has previously tried to move to Goa to get captaincy and be part of the leadership group.
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Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja, both of whom were traded in for Sanju Samson, were other experienced options to take over the captaincy responsibilities. Both have also led IPL franchises before: Curran captained Punjab Kings (PBKS) in 11 matches between 2023 and 2024, while Jadeja led CSK across eight games in 2022.
With so many experienced options around, Rajasthan Royals still chose Parag, possibly due to his previous captaincy stint and knowledge of how the franchise operates. Additionally, Sangakkara has always rated him highly and backed him to come good for a number of years during his previous tenure.
Parag also brings captaincy experience: he leads Assam in domestic competitions and has won 14 of 31 T20 matches as a leader. Rajasthan Royals must have accounted for all these factors before making this decision, and they would likely give him an extended run as a captain.
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