IPL 2026: Sanju Samson returning to DC? RR likely to trade captain for South African batter

Sanju Samson, who was with Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) for 2 years, might return to the franchise. The wicketkeeper batter had spent two seasons, 2016 and 2017, with the Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise before returning to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) in 2018.

However, in the last couple of months, RR and Samson have stopped seeing eye-to-eye. Both parties seem to have mutually decided to part ways. For months, there have been reports that the wicketkeeper won’t be retained before the IPL 2026 auction.

Sanju Samson’s DC homecoming?

Now, according to the Times of India, RR might trade Samson to DC. Initially, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) were also reportedly interested, but things didn’t pan out as the 5-time champions weren’t interested in trading the player RR wanted, Ravindra Jadeja.

Therefore, RR asked other interested parties. It seems like the inaugural IPL champions are close to striking a deal with DC. RR wanted KL Rahul, another wicketkeeper batter, but the Capitals don’t want to trade him. In fact, DC doesn’t want to send any of their core players to RR. But that didn’t stop the discussions.

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Who’ll DC trade to RR?

DC put forth the name of Tristan Stubbs, the South African batter, who they retained for INR 10 crore last season. If Stubbs comes to RR, it will still solve a problem since the Royals don’t have any good finishers after Shimron Hetmyer and Shubham Dubey didn’t work out for them last season.

However, that can’t be a fair deal since Samson is worth INR 18 crore. Therefore, RR has asked DC to send an uncapped player along with Stubbs. DC doesn’t seem sure about trading the unnamed Indian player, but the trade might still go ahead. They might instead pay RR the remaining amount in cash, which will increase RR’s purse for the IPL 2026 auction.

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