Over the past few weeks, rumours and conjectures regarding the trade of a number of Indian cricket’s best players have been circulating. Sanju Samson, who captained the Rajasthan Royals in the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL), is among the most well-known figures on this list.
Sanju Samson, who joined the Royals in 2013 and has been captain since 2021, is reportedly looking to depart the first champions before the forthcoming season next year. According to reports, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are interested in hiring the Kerala batsman-wicketkeeper.
Ravichandran Ashwin, a spinner for CSK, believes the trade may not succeed because Rajasthan may not receive the players they want in return for Samson. According to Ashwin, when it comes to trading for players, CSK is among the least interested teams.
The reason the CSK-RR trade won’t work is that RR is unlikely to receive important players in exchange if Sanju is moved to CSK and they then attempt to trade with other teams. For example, if RR want a spinner like Ravi Bishnoi and approach LSG, the difficulty is that if LSG acquire Sanju and give away Bishnoi, they also have to manage the remaining purse required to maintain Sanju — which becomes LSG’s responsibility,” remarked Ashwin on his YouTube Channel.
“In general, CSK opposes trading. Players like Shivam Dube and Ravindra Jadeja won’t be traded. For the reasons I’ve outlined, Sanju Samson arrival to CSK is probably doomed. “RR has little to gain from this type of trade,” he continued.
Sanju Samson only participated in nine IPL 2025 games.
Midway through the season, he had an abdominal ailment that kept him out of five games, but he played the first three as an Impact Player. In nine games, the 30-year-old amassed 285 runs at a strike rate of 140.39 and an average of 35.63.
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