Amid last season\u2019s internal chatter and inconsistent results, Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag made it clear that some players simply cannot be replaced \u2014 drawing a parallel between the departed Sanju Samson and the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma.<\/p>\n
Rumours surfaced during IPL 2025 suggesting unrest within the Rajasthan camp, especially after Samson was ruled out mid-season due to injury. Despite remaining with the squad, his absence on the field and limited visibility in team interactions raised questions about the dressing-room environment, with occasional separate appearances alongside team staff giving fans reason to speculate. The departure of head coach Rahul Dravid further raised eyebrows.<\/p>\n
Addressing the situation at a pre-season press conference in Jaipur, Parag said, \u201cSanju bhaiya\u2019s game is unique; he cannot be compared to anyone else. Just like there is no replacement for Virat Kohli or Rohit Sharma in any XI, there is no replacement for Sanju bhaiya \u2014 he is that good a player.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parag also reflected on the team\u2019s struggles last season, particularly in crunch moments. \u201cWe were losing matches in the final stages. A bit more freedom, a crucial boundary, or stopping the opposition at the right time could have changed our campaign. This season, we are focused on correcting those mistakes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
In a major development ahead of IPL 2026, Samson was traded to Chennai Super Kings for \u20b918 crore. In exchange, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran have joined the Rajasthan Royals, signalling a significant shift in team dynamics.<\/p>\n
With Samson\u2019s departure, Parag has been appointed full-time captain of Rajasthan Royals. As the franchise rebuilds around him under new head coach Kumar Sangakkara, Samson\u2019s standout performances at the ICC T20 World Cup 2026 \u2014 where he was named Player of the Tournament \u2014 further underline the void RR must now fill. Chennai Super Kings, meanwhile, will be counting on Samson to add firepower and leadership experience to their top order.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Amid last season\u2019s internal chatter and inconsistent results, Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag made it clear that some players simply\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":473,"featured_media":45217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[3797,3801,891,868,629],"class_list":["post-45215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ipl","tag-csk","tag-ipl","tag-riyan-parag","tag-rr","tag-sanju-samson"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/473"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45215"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45355,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45215\/revisions\/45355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}