Rajasthan Royals have made a big announcement before the auction for IPL 2026. The team has appointed Kumar Sangakkara as its new head coach. Before the auction, the franchise also made the biggest deal in IPL history, they included Ravindra Jadeja from CSK in their squad through trade in place of captain Sanju Samson.

There was already news about former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara that he could be made the new head coach of Rajasthan Royals, which has now been approved by Rajasthan. In the previous edition, the head coach of the team was Rahul Dravid, who had resigned from his post a few days ago. Earlier, Sangakkara was holding the post of Director of Cricket in this franchise.

Rajasthan Royals 2026 Retention List

• Yashasvi Jaiswal
• Shimron Hetmyer
• Vaibhav Suryavanshi
• Shubham Dubey
• luan-dre pretorius
• Dhruv Jurel
• Riyan Parag
• jofra archer
• Tushar Deshpandey
• Sandeep Sharma
• Yudhveer Singh
• quena mafaka
• Nandre Burger

Rajasthan Royals Trade

• Ravindra Jadeja (Included)
• Sam Curran (inducted)
• Donovan Ferreira (inducted)
• Sanju Samson (out)
• Nitish Rana (out)

9 layers slots vacant in Rajasthan Royals team

Rajasthan Royals have retained 13 players and included 3 players in their squad through trade. All three players coming through trade are all-rounders. Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran and Donovan Ferreira have come to the Rajasthan team through trade. Rajasthan has released two players through trade in the form of Sanju Samson and Nitish Rana.

When and where will IPL 2026 auction take place?

The auction process for the 19th edition of the Indian Premier League will take place on 16 December. This will be a mini auction, which will last for one day. The auction will be held in Abu Dhabi, which BCCI has officially announced.