Ravindra Jadeja To Captain Rajasthan Royals In IPL 2026? Franchise Drops Big Hint

Star Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is likely to be announced as the new captain of Rajasthan Royals. The Jaipur-based franchise, which won the first-ever Indian Premier League (IPL) title on June 1, 2008, under Shane Warne’s leadership, took to X on Sunday (January 4) to share a post via which they dropped a big hint about Jadeja’s elevation.

The 37-year-old all-rounder from Jamnagar in Gujarat joined the Jaipur-based franchise in a trade deal with Chennai Super Kings ahead of the IPL 2026 auction on December 16, 2025.

🔜 Thalapathy 🔥 pic.twitter.com/xPPX5z3Sco

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) January 4, 2026

He previously represented Rajasthan Royals in the world’s richest franchise league from 2008 to 2009 and played a big role in the team’s

title win in 2008.

Jadeja, who led Chennai Super Kings in eight IPL 2022 matches, has reportedly pipped Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal for the top job, which was up for grabs after Sanju Samson’s move to Chennai Super Kings in exchange for Jadeja and England all-rounder Sam Curran.

Jadeja is one of the most experienced players in IPL history. The member of India’s 2024 T20 World Cup-winning squad has played in 254 IPL matches so far for four teams – RR, Kochi Tuskers Kerala, CSK and Gujarat Lions. In those 254 matches, he has amassed a total of 3260 runs and 170 wickets.

Ravindra Jadeja’s record in IPL 

TEAM	MATCHES	RUNS	WICKETS
Rajasthan Royals	27	430	6
Kochi Tuskers Kerala	14	283	8
Chennai Super Kings	186	2198	143
Gujarat Lions	27	349	13
Total	254	3260	170

Ravindra Jadeja’s record as captain in IPL

TEAM	SEASON	MATCHES	WON	LOST
Chennai Super Kings	2022	8	2	6

Jadeja will be the eighth cricketer to captain the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Before him, Warne, Shane Watson, Rahul Dravid, Steve Smith, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson and Riyan Parag have captained RR in the world’s richest franchise cricket league.

List of players to captain Rajasthan Royals in IPL

PLAYER	COUNTRY	MATCHES	WINS	DEFEATS	TIE/NO RESULT
Shane Warne	Australia	56	31	24	1/0
Shane Watson	Australia	21	7	11	2/1
Rahul Dravid	India	40	23	17	0/0
Steve Smith	Australia	27	15	11	0/1
Ajinkya Rahane	India	24	9	15	0/0
Sanju Samson	India	67	33	32	1/1
Riyan Parag	India	8	2	6	0/0

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