Former Indian cricketer and commentator Aakash Chopra has speculated that the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) could be the frontrunners to sign Sanju Samson if the Rajasthan Royals (RR) decide to release their star player ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. Chopra pointed out that KKR currently lacks a reliable Indian wicketkeeper-batter and a potential captain, making Samson an ideal fit. He further suggested that the team could free up the required budget by releasing Venkatesh Iyer.
Aakash Chopra Backs KKR to Sign Sanju Samson if Released by Rajasthan Royals
Aakash Chopra highlighted the challenges KKR faced during the IPL 2025 season, where they did not have a recognised Indian wicketkeeper-batter, relying instead on overseas players like Quinton de Kock and Rahmanullah Gurbaz. The departure of Phil Salt to Royal Challengers Bangalore before the season further limited their options.
“𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒔𝒕 𝒏𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝑪𝑺𝑲. 𝑲𝑲𝑹 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎. 𝑲𝑲𝑹 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒂𝒏 𝒘𝒊𝒄𝒌𝒆𝒕𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓-𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒃𝒂𝒄𝒌,” 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒂 𝒔𝒂𝒊𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒀𝒐𝒖𝑻𝒖𝒃𝒆 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒍.
“𝑺𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒅𝒍𝒚, 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒇 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏? 𝑰 𝒂𝒎 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒚𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑨𝒋𝒊𝒏𝒌𝒚𝒂 𝑹𝒂𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒆 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒓𝒖𝒏𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒔 𝒂 𝒃𝒂𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏 𝒂 𝒃𝒊𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝒂 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒆 𝑽𝒆𝒏𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒉 𝑰𝒚𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆 𝒖𝒑 𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒍𝒚 ₹24 𝒄𝒓𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒂 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍 𝒅𝒊𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆.”
Why Is Sanju Samson Considering Leaving Rajasthan Royals?
Aakash Chopra also reflected on Samson’s surprising decision to request a release, given his long-standing association with the Jaipur-based franchise. Samson has been with RR since his IPL debut in 2013, except during the two years when the franchise was banned in 2016 and 2017. Chopra believes the emergence of young opener Vaibhav Suryavanshi as a stable partner to Yashasvi Jaiswal could be influencing Samson’s thoughts.
“𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆? 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒍𝒂𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒆𝒈𝒂 𝒂𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒅, 𝑹𝒂𝒋𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝑹𝒐𝒚𝒂𝒍𝒔 𝒍𝒆𝒕 𝑱𝒐𝒔 𝑩𝒖𝒕𝒕𝒍𝒆𝒓 𝒈𝒐 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒂𝒎𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒐 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔. 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝑹 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒌,” 𝑪𝒉𝒐𝒑𝒓𝒂 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅.
“𝑵𝒐𝒘, 𝑽𝒂𝒊𝒃𝒉𝒂𝒗 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒚𝒂𝒗𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒉𝒊 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒊𝒏, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒕. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝑫𝒉𝒓𝒖𝒗 𝑱𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒍 𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓. 𝑰𝒇 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒏𝒐 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒎, 𝒊𝒕 𝒎𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒊𝒔𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒔𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒏𝒋𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉—𝑰 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕’𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒊𝒓 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒔.”
Reports suggest that the Rajasthan Royals are reluctant to trade Samson in a purely cash deal and would prefer a like-for-like player swap.
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