A shocker, if not surprising, development at this point in time is Sanju Samson, who got traded to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in exchange of Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran ahead of the Indian Premier
League (IPL) 2026. The one man who has been in the midst of it all, for the Rajasthan Royals (RR) for a while now isn't even part of the team anymore. The very set up where Sanju displayed Samson like strength to hit boundaries, smashing sixes and won games for his team and in the process, made rising talents into stable names for the RR camp, is where he isn't going to be around in the future.
That being said, one of the RR's most important figures in the form of Manoj Badale, the owner, has shared his humble two cents about a development which though, Chennai-bound has still left behind a vacuum (and why won't it) for it concerns Sanju Samson. In the official video shared by RR on their official X account, Mr. Badale, the 57-year-old allumni of University of Cambridge, had the following to say on the Kerala-born batting dynamite, a batter and captain whose fans include none other than Dr. Shashi Tharoor.
Watch the video here:
"He was personally, emotionally drained," remarked Mr. Badale in a Behind the Scenes (BTS) detail about Samson, who will now play for the CSK team. The right handed uncomplicated batter known for his proclivity at hitting easy sixes and ones that travel a long distance made Rajasthan Royals his IPL home for more than a decade. Interestingly, his first ever game for the RR camp came way back in time, circa 2013. That was, doing simple school boy math, 12 years ago.
Sanju Samson wanted just a new chapter to refresh, the end of his sort of journey in the IPL: Manoj Badale
Manoj Badale mentioned when the wheels started moving in regards to departure of Sanju Samson from RR by saying, "The first time that Sanju Samson did talk about moving on, was earlier this year at Kolkata. We had a meeting after the game. He is a very honest guy." The RR owner also told the RR website, "Sanju cares a huge amount about RR and I think having our worst season in 18 years took a lot out of him. And I think he just felt that having given the best part of 14 years.. to RR, he wanted just a new chapter to refresh, the end of his sort of journey in the IPL."
That brings an end to what has been a stellar career at RR, where Samson, back in the day, not only opened the innings with Ajinkya Rahane but also played under the great leadership of a man celebrated - as he should be - as the Wall of Indian cricket: Rahul Dravid! It will be interesting to see how the Kerala-born player fares at CSK in the IPL 2026 season and beyond.
