Rajasthan Royals (RR) owner Manoj Badale has revealed that Sanju Samson expressed his desire to leave the franchise for the first time midway through IPL 2025. Samson has been traded to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for the upcoming season of the IPL in exchange for all-rounders Sam Curran and Ravindra Jadeja.
The former RR captain endured a challenging season in 2025, having missed several matches due to injuries and managing just one half-century from nine innings. Apart from his batting, Samson also did not have a memorable season as skipper, with Rajasthan finishing second last on the points table with just eight points to their name.
As the team struggled to gain momentum throughout the tournament, Samson felt emotionally drained and expressed his desire to leave the franchise after the season to owner Manoj Badale, following their narrow loss against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Kolkata.
“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. He was personally and 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. Having given the best part of 14 years, with a short break, to RR, he felt he needed a new chapter to refresh the end of his IPL journey,” revealed Badale in a video shared by Rajasthan Royals on their YouTube channel.
Badale hailed Sanju for his commitment to the franchise for 11 seasons and recalled that making him captain in 2021 was seen as a high-risk move, but he took up the responsibility admirably.
“When Sanju made the request, it felt different for us because he’s a very authentic man; if he says something, he generally means it. He has been an extraordinary servant of the franchise for 14 years. It’s not just the batting or the sixes the fans see—it’s everything else he has put in. When we made the decision to make him captain, that was a high-risk move. He was a young and inexperienced captain, but he put everything into that role. There has been a lot of emotion from our fans and from the team that has grown up under Sanju. I feel emotional about it myself,” Badale added.
Across 11 seasons with RR, Sanju scored 4,027 runs, led the side to the final of an IPL after a whopping 14 years in 2022, and produced a career-best 531 runs in 2024. Samson’s arrival gives Chennai an immediate lift in the batting department, who were seen struggling to score at a rapid pace throughout 2025. The 31-year-old has a massive fan following in Chennai and is bound to receive solid support from the crowd as he dons the yellow and steps out on the field in the upcoming season.
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