It all went wrong for Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 season. After an underwhelming auction, RR hoped their main players would help them produce good results. It didn’t all pan out as they expected. One of their best players and captain, Sanju Samson, was out injured for almost half of the matches.
Riyan Parag was named captain in Samson’s absence and stepped up. The latter played 9 games, but his performances weren’t up to the mark. In fact, one can say that Parag, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, and even Vaibhav Suryavanshi all outperformed Samson with the bat.
RR captaincy fight between Parag & Samson?
There were murmurs that all wasn’t well between Samson and Rahul Dravid. But the RR head coach refuted such claims. Now we hear that Samson won’t be with them for the IPL 2026 season. Could the reason behind his alleged exit be that there are power struggles for the captaincy in RR? Former Chennai Super Kings (CSK) batter S Badrinath certainly thinks so.
“I feel Riyan Parag is the reason. If you consider him for captaincy, how do you expect someone like Samson to stay?” Badrinath said on his YouTube channel.
Parag has been backed to the hilt by RR even after years of failure. They saw something special in him, and he has started to pay them back in the last couple of years. Parag seems to be on track to play just for RR in his IPL career. At 23, he has already been with them for seven years. Making him captain does make sense.
Samson for Dhoni?
As for CSK, Badrinath thinks that Samson could be brought in via trade as a replacement for MS Dhoni. He can open the innings and keep wickets, just like he does at RR. Or maybe he can come in at number three.
“If Samson does come to CSK, then he could be the like-for-like replacement for MS Dhoni. Samson is a batter who can bat in the top three or four spots in the batting order. He is not someone who could fit in the number five or six spot in the playing XI. CSK are strong in those areas of the playing XI. Mhatre, Gaikwad, and Brevis are settled.”
“I am not sure if CSK would do a transaction like MI did to get Hardik Pandya from GT. So even if Sanju Samson comes in, the question remains whether CSK can fit him into the playing XI,” Badrinath added.
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