The inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) champions, Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Saturday, November 15, revealed the list of players they have retained and released from the team.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) were one of the most talked-about franchises during the trading window, and they made some major changes to their team ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini auction.
They parted ways after their captain Sanju Samson requested him to leave the franchise. RR approached several franchises to trade Sanju Samson and finally, struck a deal with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).
In exchange for Sanju Samson, RR added CSK great all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja for Rs 14 crore and English all-rounder Sam Curran for Rs 2.4 crore. Furthermore, Rajasthan Royals traded Nitish Rana to Delhi Capitals (DC) and received Donovan Ferreira for Rs 75 lakh in return.
List of players retained by Rajasthan Royals:
Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Kunal Rathore, Luan-Dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Ryan Parag, Yudhveer Singh Charak, Jofra Archer, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Kartikeya Singh, Tushar Deshpande, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Quena Mafaka, Ashok Sharma, Nandre Berger.
List of players released by Rajasthan Royals:
Wanindu Hasaranga, Mahesh Theekshana, Fazalhaq Farooqui, Akash Madhwal, Kumar Karthikeya, Kunal Rathod, Ashok Sharma.
List of players traded and dropped by RR:
Ravindra Jadeja (traded from Chennai Super Kings)
Sam Curran (traded from Chennai Super Kings)
Donovan Ferreira (traded to Delhi Capitals)
Nitish Rana (joined Delhi Capitals)
Sanju Samson (joined Chennai Super Kings)
Rajasthan Royals had to struggle in IPL 2025
Rajasthan Royals had a tough campaign in the Indian Premier League 2025 as they finished 9th on the points table with 4 wins and 10 losses from 14 matches. They finished with 8 points and -0.549 NRR in their bag.
RR started the season with consecutive losses to SRH and KKR, but managed to bounce back with a 6-run win over CSK, followed by an impressive 50-run win against PBKS. However, inconsistency remained his biggest challenge throughout the season.
They continued their losing streak of five consecutive matches, suffering losses to GT, RCB, DC, LSG and another loss to RCB. A pattern developed in Rajasthan Royals’ defeat, as in most games, they remained in the contest for large parts but could not finish off the crucial moments.
Rajasthan Royals finally broke the losing streak with a strong 8-wicket win over GT, but again suffered a hat-trick of defeats against MI, KKR and PBKS. In their last game, they ended on a positive note by defeating CSK by 6 wickets.
Overall, it was a forgettable campaign for Rajasthan Royals, which contributed to a complete makeover of the franchise ahead of the 2026 season of the competition.
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