Riyan Parag named Rajasthan Royals captain for IPL 2026

2 hours ago 19

2 min readFeb 13, 2026 07:19 PM IST

Parag Riyan Parag in action. (FILE photo)

All-rounder Riyan Parag has been named the captain of the Rajasthan Royals side for the upcoming Indian Premier League season. Sanju Samson, who has led the franchise from 2021 to 2025, has moved to Chennai Super Kings earlier in a swap deal in which the Royals have got Ravindra Jadeja in return.

Parag was retained by the Royals ahead of the IPL 2025 for whooping sum of 14 crores despite poor returns before that; however, his form has turned around since, and he has been a key middle-order bat and tends to chip in with clever off-breaks from time to time.

MATCHES	INNINGS	RUNS	AVERAGE	STRIKE RATE	BEST SCORE
7	5	160	32.00	126.98	50
12	8	86	12.28	111.68	42*
11	10	93	11.62	112.04	25
17	14	183	16.63	138.63	56*
7	7	78	13.00	118.18	20
16	14	573	59.09	149.21	84*
14	14	393	32.75	166.52	95

Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2026: Riyan Parag (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shimron Hetmyer, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Shubham Dubey, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Jofra Archer, Sandeep Sharma, Nandre Burger, Tushar Deshpande, Kwena Maphaka, Yudhvir Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran, Donovan Ferreira, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Aman Rao, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen

The swap deal

Samson made a landmark switch to the Chennai Super Kings at Rs 18 crore in the biggest-ever trade deal signed by the franchise, while CSK legend Ravindra Jadeja will return to his first IPL franchise, the Rajasthan Royals, with a renewed salary cut from Rs 18 crore to Rs 14 crore.

Samson has played 177 IPL matches since his first IPL signing with the Kolkata Knight Riders. CSK will be the fourth franchise of his career. Since making his IPL debut in 2013, the Kerala wicket-keeper has represented RR in all but two seasons—2016 and 2017—when he played for Delhi Capitals.

“Jadeja, who played for CSK for 12 seasons, is among the most experienced players in the league, having played over 250 games. As part of the trade agreement, his league fee has been revised from INR 18 crore to INR 14 crore,” the IPL statement read. Besides Jadeja, RR have also scooped up England all-rounder Sam Curran for Rs 2.4 crore from CSK as part of the Samson deal.

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