Follow UsSince his Indian Premier League (IPL) debut in 2013, Sanju Samson has remained with the Rajasthan Royals, except for the two seasons where they were not part of the league. Across those 11 seasons, the right-hander grew leaps and bounds to become the face of the franchise, leading them to an IPL final in 2022 and a playoff spot in 2024.
However, the franchise endured a downfall in IPL 2025, finishing at the bottom half of the table and not looking threatening. In the aftermath, their head coach, Rahul Dravid, did not continue with the franchise, and their skipper, Samson, requested a trade.
The franchise’s owner, Manoj Badale, opened up on the decision to trade Samson, stating that the wicketkeeper-batter was ‘emotionally drained’ and wanted a fresh chapter in his life.
“Now, when you run an IPL franchise, players ask to leave, stay, get retained, put in the auction all the time because ultimately their primary lookout, as it should be, is themselves. And whether it's their earnings or whether it's their prospects of making the Indian team, that's true. In the case of Sanju, that was never been the case,” Badale told ESPNCricinfo.
“So when he [Samson] says, 'Sir, I want to move on, I'm emotionally drained; I almost care too much and I feel like I need a fresh chapter', when he asks that, you have to listen. I was really clear with him that we would cooperate and try to seek an alternative chapter for him, but we would only do it if it was a player trade and we would only do it if our view was that the trade made the franchise stronger. And to be fair to him, he respected that. He agreed with that and he abided by that,” he added.
Badale also insisted that the franchise never tried to stop Samson, and reckoned that they always respected his desire. But there was one condition: his departure from the franchise should make it as strong or stronger, which is where the Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s trade deal came into play.
The five-time IPL champions traded two crucial components of their setup – Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran – to fix their woes at the top of the order. For Rajasthan, it was a trade that would strengthen their middle-order and give them two additional all-round options.
“The man Sanju Samson is so authentic, we just respected his desire. But we were clear with him that we would only satisfy that desire if it made the franchise as strong or stronger.”