Riyan Parag has been named* the next Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain ahead of IPL 2026. Parag’s promotion comes after the departure of Sanju Samson to Chennai Super Kings (CSK), a trade that came in exchange for two allrounders, Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran.
Parag, 24, has led RR before. He did it last year, when Samson missed eight games with injuries and Parag stepped in. Out of those eight matches, RR won only two. Parag averaged a healthy 38.57 in those matches, ending that stint with a career-best 95 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens.
ESPNcricinfo has learnt Parag was among a few players with whom head coach Kumar Sangakkara had interviews with, before finalising him as the captain. This means RR will have a new captain and a new head coach after Rahul Dravid parted ways with the franchise after the 2025 season, when they finished second from bottom with just four wins from 14 games.
“The night before the [T20 World Cup] warm-up game, I played against USA I got a call from Manoj [Badale] and Sanga [Sangakkara] that said, ‘congratulations you are the captain.’ A lot of emotions and then straight to the matter, like next season, what do we need to change or do better so that we finish in a better place,” Parag said in a video uploaded on RR’s social handles.
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