CSK Captain for IPL 2026: With Chennai Super Kings (CSK) pulling off the biggest trade of the season so far – acquiring Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson, there was strong anticipation regarding who will lead the Chennai outfit in the next Indian Premier League (IPL 2026) season. Reports suggested that Sanju agreed to the move only after seeking assurances about the captaincy role.
Samson is undoubtedly seen as MS Dhoni’s successor and is also a leadership figure, which makes the wicketkeeper-batter a strong contender to takeover the reins. However, the five-time champions have cleared all air of ambiguity and continued to persist with Ruturaj Gaikwad at the helm, naming him the leader of the side for the upcoming season.
The news was confirmed by CSK via a post on their official social media handles.
Notably, Gaikwad was crowned skipper two seasons before but midway last season, MS Dhoni returned to the role after the young batter was ruled out of the tournament due to injury. Nevertheless, Gaikwad has now looked in good form in domestic cricket and is all prepped to marshal the CSK troops once again.
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CSK decided to retain a total of 16 players which includes the recently traded in Sanju Samson. They also released quite a few names with Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran being traded out to Rajasthan Royals (RR) to acquire Samson. The CSK remaining purse after the CSK Retained players 2026 and CSK released players 2026 is INR 43.3 crores, the second highest amongst all teams with only Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) having more with INR 64.3 crores. CSK have nine slots to fill at the IPL 2026 auction.
CSK Released Players 2026 – Ravindra Jadeja (traded to Rajasthan Royals), Rachin Ravindra, Devon Conway, Sam Curran (traded to Rajasthan Royals), Deepak Hooda, Vijay Shankar, Shaik Rasheed, Matheesha Pathirana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Rahul Tripathi, Vansh Bedi, Andre Siddarth.
CSK Retained Players 2026 – Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Ayush Mhatre, M.S. Dhoni, Sanju Samson (traded from Rajasthan Royals), Dewald Brevis, Urvil Patel, Shivam Dube, Jamie Overton, Ramakrishna Ghosh, Noor Ahmad, Khaleel Ahmed, Anshul Kamboj, Gurjapneet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Mukesh Choudhary, Nathan Ellis.
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