IPL 2026: 'Sanju Samson's trade to Chennai Super Kings is not going to work' - R Ashwin
"RR don’t have much to gain from this kind of trade,” Ravichandran Ashwin said about the possibility of Sanju Samson moving to Chennai Super Kings ahead of IPL 2026.
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Reports and speculations about the trade of several top stars of Indian cricket have been doing the rounds over the last few weeks. One of the biggest names on this list is Sanju Samson, who captained Rajasthan Royals in the 2025 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
According to some reports, Samson, who joined the Royals back in 2013 and has captained them since 2021, wants to leave the inaugural champions ahead of the upcoming season next year. Chennai Super Kings (CSK) has reportedly shown interest in acquiring the services of the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter.
However, CSK spinner Ravichandran Ashwin feels that the trade might not work as Rajasthan might not get the players they are looking for in exchange of Samson. Ashwin opined that CSK are one of the least interested teams when it comes to signing players through trade.
“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 and approach LSG, the problem is that if LSG acquire Sanju and give away Bishnoi, they also have to manage the remaining purse required to retain Sanju — which becomes LSG’s responsibility," said Ashwin on his YouTube Channel.
"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, for the reasons I’ve explained. RR don’t have much to gain from this kind of trade,” he added.
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Samson played only nine games in IPL 2025. He played the first three games of the season as an Impact Player and missed five due to an abdominal injury midway through the campaign. The 30-year-old managed to aggregate 285 runs from nine matches at an average of 35.63 and a strike rate of 140.39.