Can new captain-coach duo take Rajasthan Royals to IPL glory?

Riyan Parag will take over from Sanju Samson, while Ravindra Jadeja has also been traded in as RR look for a first title since 2008

S Sudarshanan

Published: Mar 26, 2026, 11:33 AM (3 hrs ago)

Where Rajasthan Royals finished last year

Ninth, after winning just four out of the 14 league matches.

What's new for RR in IPL 2026

A new old coach, a new captain, and an old new returnee. Kumar Sangakkara, who was the director of cricket with RR last year, is back as the head coach after Rahul Dravid parted ways. It was under Sangakkara in 2022 that RR reached the final for the first time since the inaugural edition.

Riyan Parag, 24, is the new full-time captain after RR traded out Sanju Samson to Chennai Super Kings. Parag had previously stood in as captain nine times in the last two seasons.

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In return, they also traded in Ravindra Jadeja, who had started his IPL career with RR in 2008. As part of the same deal, Sam Curran was also traded in, but has been ruled out, and Dasun Shanaka withdrew from the PSL to replace him. RR have also traded in Donovan Ferreira, the offspin-allrounder, as a finisher.

At the auction, RR went shopping for spinners and returned with three wristspinners: Ravi Bishnoi, whom they bid for aggressively and got for INR 7.2 crore, legspinner Yash Raj Punja and left-arm spinner Vignesh Puthur.

Who's out, who's in doubt

Curran was expected to bolster RR's lower-middle order, but is out of IPL 2026 because of a groin injury he picked up during England's run to the semi-final of the 2026 T20 World Cup. Shanaka, who was picked by Lahore Qalandars in the first-ever PSL auction, withdrew to link up with RR.

Likely best XII

1 Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, 2 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 3 Riyan Parag (capt), 4 Shimron Hetmyer*, 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Ravindra Jadeja, 7 Donovan Ferreira/Dasun Shanaka*, 8 Jofra Archer*, 9 Ravi Bishnoi, 10 Sandeep Sharma, 11 Tushar Deshpande, 12 Nandre Burger/Adam Milne*

* denotes overseas pick

Big question

Watch out for

Hetmyer's batting position and RR's spin bowling.

In his four years with RR, Hetmyer has batted above No. 5 only four times in 55 matches. He has had a strike rate in excess of 150 in three of the last four seasons. But will his exploits with West Indies at the recent T20 World Cup make RR rethink Hetmyer's role? He batted at No. 3 for West Indies in the competition and was their leading run-getter with 248 at a strike rate of 186.46. His tally of 19 sixes was only bettered by Finn Allen (20) and Sanju Samson (24). Jadeja, Shanaka and Ferreira's presence could allow RR to push Hetmyer up, if needed.

There will also be focus on RR's spin attack, now that they have an offspinner, right-arm and left-arm wristspinners as well as a left-arm spinner to choose from. RR have been the fourth-most expensive spin-bowling unit in the last two IPL editions. Inarguably, Jadeja is the most experienced spinner in their ranks, followed by Bishnoi, who will look to get back in the national reckoning with a good IPL season. However, both of them haven't picked up a bucketload of wickets in the last two editions - Jadeja's 18 wickets have come at an economy of 8.16 and an average of 38.5; Bishnoi's 19 at 9.71 and 41.26 respectively.

Key stats

Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi opened the batting seven times together in IPL 2025 and scored 422 runs together at a run-rate of 12.17 per over. Among those who have opened together at least five times in the IPL, the pair's run-rate is the fourth highest in the IPL. Expect more fireworks this season

With Samson (4219 runs) traded out, Jaiswal is now the leading run-scorer for RR in the IPL with 2166, followed by Parag with 1566

In IPL 2025, RR had the second-worst strike rate at the death (overs 17-20): 163.33, and they also lost five games by a margin of 11 runs or less while chasing. To address the issue, they got in Ferreira (death overs strike rate of 238.58 in T20s since the last IPL) and Curran's replacement Shanaka (186.30). They also have Jadeja, who has struck at 170.45 in overs 17-20 in the last two seasons, while Hetmyer strikes at 191.27 in this phase in T20s since the last IPL

S Sudarshanan is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo. @Sudarshanan7

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