They have opted to part ways with Sanju Samson.
Rajasthan Royals have secured major signings ahead of the IPL 2026 retention deadline with Donovan Ferreira and Ravindra Jadeja trade. The champions of the inaugural edition have been highly active in the trade market this time and have finalised one of the most high-profile player trades.
In the Sanju Samson trade to Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals gave up their former captain but acquired Jadeja and Sam Curran. They have also traded out Nitish Rana to Delhi Capitals and have brought in Donovan Ferreira to Rajasthan Royals. They have bolstered their side for IPL 2026 with these two trades.
Rajasthan Royals had a very disappointing campaign last season on and off the field. Naturally, they needed to take some tough calls ahead of the IPL 2026 retention deadline. They had some serious holes in their squad in the previous season. With Donovan Ferreira trade and Ravindra Jadeja, the franchise has solved a few of their issues.
Firstly, we need to understand why letting go of Samson and Rana were good decisions. Both the players are ageing and the Rajasthan Royals squad had a cluster of top order batters. In Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Riyan Parag, and Nitish Rana, RR had several batters who like to bat in the top three. The lower middle order, however, was starving for quality batters.
A weak lower middle order was a major issue for Rajasthan in the last season. They lost multiple close matches in the end moments after being in winning positions. By releasing Samson and Rana, they have reduced that top order cluster and have added reinforcements in the lower middle order.
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The former champions have done a remarkable job even before announcing the RR retention list. The Ravindra Jadeja trade and Donovan Ferreira trade has meant their batting unit is sorted even before going into the IPL 2026 auction.
At the top, they have 15-year-old sensation Suryavanshi, who just yesterday smashed a 32-ball century in the Asia Cup Rising Stars 2025. Alongside him is Jaiswal, who has been outstanding in his IPL career so far.
Pretorius, the explosive young South African batter can slot in at number three. Parag, who captained the side last year in the absence of Samson, will come at four. He has been excellent in the last couple of seasons, and is one of the best hitters in the country.
Dhruv Jurel, Jadeja, Ferreira, and Curran are a pretty decent number 5-8. Rajasthan Royals have struggled to find good players at number 7-8 in recent years. It also means, there will be no place for Shimron Hetmyer in the line-up and is likely to be in the RR released players 2026. He had a poor season earlier this year, and the age factor also goes against him. In Ferreira, they have got what they wanted.
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