Rajasthan Royals Squad 2026: Pakistan Super League has suffered another big blow. Sri Lankan cricket team captain Dasun Shanaka has joined Rajasthan Royals. He was supposed to play for Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2026, but now he has replaced all-rounder Sam Curran in the RR squad.

Rajasthan Royals have also confirmed that Dasun Shanaka will be seen playing in the pink jersey in IPL 2026. He has joined Rajasthan team for an amount of Rs 2 crore. Let us tell you that Shanaka is not the first player to leave Pakistan Super League and join IPL this season. Before him, Zimbabwe’s Blessing Muzarabani has come to Kolkata Knight Riders, who has replaced Mustafizur Rahman.

Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Mohsin Naqvi has said that legal action will be taken against any player who has broken the PSL contract and gone to the Indian Premier League. Last season, South Africa’s Corbin Bosch had joined Mumbai Indians, due to which the PCB banned him from playing in the Pakistan Super League for one year.

Talking about Dasun Shanaka, he is currently the captain of Sri Lanka’s T20 cricket team. So far he has represented Sri Lanka in 6 Tests, 71 ODI matches and 131 T20 International matches. So far, he has scored more than 3 thousand runs in his international career and has also taken 86 wickets.

Dasun Shanaka is a fast bowling all-rounder by profession. He had earlier been a part of Gujarat Titans squad in 2023 and 2025. Till now he has played only 3 IPL matches.

Updated squad of Rajasthan Royals: Ryan Parag (captain), Ravindra Jadeja, Dasun Shanaka, Donovan Ferreira, Sandeep Sharma, Shubham Dubey, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Luan-Dre Pretorius, Shimron Hetmyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Joffra Archer, Tushar Deshpande, Quena Mafaka, Nandre Berger, Ravi Bishnoi, Sushant Mishra, Yash Raj Punja, Vignesh Puthur, Ravi Singh, Aman Rao, Brijesh Sharma, Adam Milne, Kuldeep Sen

Also read:

Playing XI of Delhi Capitals will change in IPL 2026, KL Rahul gets big responsibility, coach gives update

The new season of Pakistan Super League is starting from March 26, but PSL is facing setbacks after setbacks. Recently, Zimbabwe’s 6 and a half feet tall bowler Blessing Muzarabani rejected the PSL contract and joined IPL team Kolkata Knight Riders. Now Sri Lankan cricket team captain Dasun Shanaka is also close to kicking the PSL contract and entering the Rajasthan Royals team.

According to Cricbuzz, a Rajasthan Royals official said that they are very close to signing Dasun Shanaka and some final formalities are left. Shanaka will be replacing Sam Curran in the Rajasthan team, who has been ruled out of IPL 2026 due to injury. Shanaka remained unsold in the mini auction held in December last year. After that, Lahore Qalandars bought him in the PSL auction by bidding Rs 75 lakh.

Why only Shanaka?

Rajasthan Royals targeting Dasun Shanaka is not a surprising decision. He is also an all-rounder and can replace Sam Curran very well. But the main reason for this is Rajasthan Royals head coach Kumar Sangakkara, who comes from Sri Lanka. Vikram Rathore was the batting coach of the Sri Lankan cricket team during the T20 World Cup 2026. Rathore is now the assistant coach with Sangakkara in the Rajasthan team. Therefore both are well aware of Shanaka’s style of playing.

PCB has threatened

Players are continuously leaving PSL and coming to Indian Premier League, this has also increased the concern of Pakistan Cricket Board. PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi told the media that legal action can be taken against those players who have broken the PSL contract.

Also read:

Will Virat Kohli return to London by ‘chartered flight’ during IPL? King himself told the truth of the viral post