Rajasthan Royals finished 9th on the standings in IPL 2025 after managing to secure just 4 wins from 14 matches. The team struggled to strike a perfect balance in the last edition of the tournament, with just certain players emerging as standout performers while the majority failed to live up to the expectations. While RR were dealt with a major blow in the form of captain Sanju Samson being injured and then delivering a sub-par performance, the only positives came in the part of Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal and stand-in captain Riyan Parag.
In the bowling department, not one RR star managed to be within the top 30 on the list of top wicket-takers in the season. With the November 15 deadline for teams to finalize on retentions and releases looming, RR will be forced to make certain hard calls and look for a complete revamp ahead of IPL 2026. The mini-auction will reportedly take place in the December 13-15 window. Ahead of the deadline, let’s take a look at some of the players RR could potentially release.
Predicted RR release list for IPL 2026 auction
1. Sanju Samson
Retained for Rs 18 crore, Samson is surely not an obvious choice for release ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. However, given the developments that have emerged post IPL 2025 liking Samson to other teams via the trade route and the keeper-batter wanting to leave the franchise, his exit seems imminent. His performance in the last edition of the tournament was affected by his injuries, which resulted him playing just 9 out of 14 games. Sanju started his career with RR in 2013, moved to DC for a couple of years in 2016-17 before returing to RR since then. The Kerala keeper-batter has turned out to be one of RR’s most consistent and most reliable batters, having scored 4027 out of 4704 runs that he has scored in his IPL career while playing for RR.
2. Shimron Hetmyer
The West Indies batter simply failed to live up to his reputation of being a destructive finisher for RR in IPL 2025. He managed to score just 239 runs from 14 matches, which includes just one half-century. In fact, he failed to do well barring in just one season – IPL 2022 where he scored 314 runs. The Caribbean star was retained for a whooping Rs 11 crore by the side before the IPL 2025 mega auction. By getting rid of him, RR could target better finishers in the IPL 2026 mini auction.
3. Maheesh Theekshana
The Sri Lankan spinner was bagged for Rs 4.40 crore by RR at the IPL 2025 auction after being released by CSK. However, Theekshana managed to take 11 wickets from as many games in the one season that he spent with RR. At an average of 37.27 and and an economy rate of 9.26, he was arguably one of RR’s worst bowlers in the season.
4. Wanindu Hasaranga
Another Sri Lankan spinner who could be released is Hasaranga. The all-rounder managed to score just 9 runs and pick 11 wickets in IPL 2025, failing to justify his Rs 5.25 crore price tag.
5. Nandre Burger
After being signed as an injury replacement for Sandeep Sharma for Rs 3.25 crore, the South African pacer was not used for even a single game in IPL 2025. It is also pertinent to point out that the Proteas bowler is injury-prone as well. RR could surely release him to find other sustainable overseas options for their pace department.
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