Rajasthan Royals (RR) owner Manoj Badale has finally spoken in detail about the big IPL trade that sent Sanju Samson to Chennai Super Kings. Badale shared that Samson was the one who asked to leave RR towards the end of IPL 2025. The trade also involved Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran moving to RR. Badale said Samson had made his decision much earlier.
In a video posted by the franchise, Badale revealed, “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, and he was personally, 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.”
He further added that Samson felt it was time to look for other options after giving RR almost his entire IPL career. “I think he just felt that, having given the best part of 14 years with a break to RR, he wanted just a new chapter to refresh the end of his journey with the IPL. In the case of Sanju, when he made the request, I think it felt different for us. A, because he’s a very authentic man, and if he says something, he generally means it. He’s been an extraordinary servant of the franchise for 14 years. It’s not just the batting that the fans see or the sixes that the fans see; it’s everything else he’s put into it,” he added.
Badale also dismissed rumours of chaos inside RR. “While there’s been a sort of media narrative of Rajasthan Royals are in chaos… the reality is that’s not how it’s felt internally… it all feels very calm here,” he said. He also explained that RR evaluated every trade option carefully before agreeing to this major decision.
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