The inagural Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Rajasthan Royals (RR) have made a lot of changes in their squad after a dismal outing in the 18th edition of the cash-rich league. The franchise has parted ways with skipper Sanju Samson as the Chennai Super Kings officially signed the wicket-keeper batter in a trade that saw Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran going the other way.
Samson's move became official on November 15, which was the last date for all 10 franchises to finalise the list of players they wished to retain and release, but it had been making headlines for several weeks. After the speculations got real, RR owner Manoj Badale explained what led to the franchise skipper's exit.
Why Sanju Samson joined CSK?
Badale, in the video, explained it was the match against the Kolkata Knight Riders during the last edition of the cash-rich league. He said that the wicket-keeper batter decided to look for a change because of the mental and physical drain he had gone through at RR.
"The first time this year or in the past year that Sanju talked about moving on was probably in Kolkata towards the end of the season. We had a meeting after the game. He's a very honest guy, and he was personally, emotionally drained. He cares a huge amount about RR, and I think having our worst season in 18 years took a lot out of him," said Badale in a video posted on the official handle of Rajasthan Royals.
"I think he just felt that, having given the best part of 14 years with a break to RR, he wanted just a new chapter to refresh the end of his journey with the IPL. In the case of Sanju, when he made the request, I think it felt different for us. A, because he's a very authentic man, and if he says something, he generally means it. He's been an extraordinary servant of the franchise for 14 years. It's not just the batting that the fans see or the sixes that the fans see; it's everything else he's put into it," he added.
RR on Dravid's exit
Badale also spoke about the social media chatter, suggesting the franchise overall is in a state of chaos, hence the high-profile exits of Samson and Rahul Dravid.
"While there's been a sort of media narrative of Rajasthan Royals are in chaos, people leaving, Rahul leaving, the reality is that's not how it's felt internally. Internally, we committed to a process and a timeline. We're maybe one week later than we hope to be, or maybe two weeks later, but it all feels very calm here," said Badale.
"But when you put a player of the stature of Sanju Samson, everyone's interested. We have a whole group of people who are evaluating every trade option that was presented to us, and you know, we would meet as a group regularly, but my role was to lead the discussions, not to make decisions," he added.
Sanju Samson's contributions to RR
Sanju Samson represented the Rajasthan-based franchise in two stints. He first joined the franchise in 2013 and was part of the team till 2015 before joining the Delhi Capitals for a couple of seasons. The wicket-keeper batter returned to RR in 2018 and remained a part of the franchise till 2025.