Speculations about the trade of top Indian cricket stars have been making headlines in recent weeks, and Sanju Samson is among the most talked-about names. The Kerala wicketkeeper-batter, who has been with Rajasthan Royals (RR) since 2013 and captained the team since 2021, is reportedly looking for a new direction ahead of IPL 2026.
Reports suggest that Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are interested in acquiring Samson’s services, but Ravichandran Ashwin, CSK’s senior spinner, believes that such a trade is unlikely to materialise.
Ashwin Explains Why Trade May Not Work
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin highlighted the complexities of the potential deal.
“𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝑺𝑲-𝑹𝑹 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒂𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝒊𝒇 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝑺𝑲, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑹𝑹 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒆𝒂𝒎𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚’𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒗𝒂𝒍𝒖𝒂𝒃𝒍𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒓𝒆𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏. 𝑭𝒐𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒂𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆, 𝒊𝒇 𝑹𝑹 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒂 𝒔𝒑𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒆𝒓 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒗𝒊 𝑩𝒊𝒔𝒉𝒏𝒐𝒊 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝑳𝑺𝑮, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒎 𝒊𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑳𝑺𝑮 𝒘𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖’𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒑𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆 — 𝒘𝒉𝒊𝒄𝒉 𝒃𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝑳𝑺𝑮’𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒚,” 𝑨𝒔𝒉𝒘𝒊𝒏 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅.
He further added:
“𝑪𝑺𝑲 𝒈𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. 𝑻𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏’𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒚𝒆𝒓𝒔 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒅𝒓𝒂 𝑱𝒂𝒅𝒆𝒋𝒂 𝒐𝒓 𝑺𝒉𝒊𝒗𝒂𝒎 𝑫𝒖𝒃𝒆. 𝑺𝒐, 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒍𝒊𝒌𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒅, 𝑺𝒂𝒏𝒋𝒖 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝑪𝑺𝑲 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒍𝒆𝒂𝒌. 𝑹𝑹 𝒅𝒐𝒏’𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒎𝒖𝒄𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒈𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒆.”
Sanju Samson’s IPL 2025 Performance
In the 2025 IPL season, Samson featured in just nine games. He started the campaign playing the first three matches as an Impact Player, but missed five games midway due to an abdominal injury. Despite the interruptions, the 30-year-old scored 285 runs at an average of 35.63 and a strike rate of 140.39.
While fans continue to speculate about his next move, Ashwin’s insights indicate that a Sanju Samson–CSK trade may remain a distant possibility.
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