As we build up to the 2026 edition of the Indian Premier League, we will have a look at key personnel changes and how the teams shape up ahead of the season. In this analytical preview, David Warner and Eoin Morgan – Chief Cricket Analysts, Parimatch Sports, two of the game’s most respected cricket minds – deliver a comprehensive breakdown of the makeup of the 10 IPL teams.
Ravindra Jadeja and Sanju Samson served their respective sides well over the last decade
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Eoin Morgan, Chief Cricket Analysts Parimatch Sports
Eoin Morgan Shares Expert Insight on IPL 2026’s Biggest Trade Shock
The 2026 IPL mini-auction had a lot of surprises in store for the fans, but the biggest surprise was unfurled even before the auction started as the Rajasthan Royals decided to trade Sanju Samson for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran from Chennai Super Kings, allowing all three players a new lease of life in the IPL.
Samson served as the skipper for the Royals for five years between 2021 and 2025, helping the inaugural IPL champions reach the final for the first time since 2008 in his second year of captaincy.
The right-handed top-order batter is also the all-time leading run-scorer for RR but the emergence of Vaibhav Sooryavanshi made the RR side very top-heavy with Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel, Riyan Parag, and Shimron Hetmyer vying for the top four spots in the batting order.
On the other hand, Ravindra Jadeja never finished as the highest run-scorer or the highest wicket-taker for the Super Kings in any single edition, but the all-rounder is the all-time leading wicket-taker for CSK in the IPL. Jadeja’s presence, along with Ravichandran Ashwin, would be highly missed as the Super Kings enter a new era with newer heroes on the horizon.
David Warner gives an insight into the biggest trade ahead of IPL 2026
If I look back on my IPL career, I represented two franchises, the Delhi Capitals and the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and returning to Delhi after playing for Sunrisers for 7 years was definitely a moment I looked forward to at that point of my career.
Ravindra Jadeja started his career with the Royals but went on to win three more titles with CSK, and it would definitely be an emotional moment for the all-rounder to return to his first franchise in the IPL.
On the other hand, Samson might be in need of a fresh challenge in the IPL, and once he’s relieved of the captaincy duties, he might even surpass the pedigree and potential we saw in Sanju during his time with the Royals.
Sanju Samson’s fresh opportunity at CSK
When Samson was appointed as the captain of the Royals in 2021, there were not many bonafide stars in the RR dressing room with Yashaswi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag still in their teenage while Shivam Dube and Glenn Phillips were not the finished elite T20 product in terms of finishing games and providing genuine all-round options.
Sanju took on that load of leading a young team and even qualified for the final of IPL 2022, 14 years after RR had made it to their last final. Despite his calibre and achievements, the Royals took the decision of trading Samson to improve their balance and offer more all-round options in the squad.
The wicket-keeper batter is fresh off a great T20 World Cup campaign where he wasn’t even part of the first-choice playing XI, but came in and helped India make it to the semi-final against all odds.
Ravindra Jadeja’s second homecoming at RR
Ravindra Jadeja is adored by the fans in Chennai as one of their own and is part of the greatest CSK team which achieved IPL, CLT20, and completely dominated the T20 franchise circuit for a couple of years.
But, after a couple of ordinary seasons, Jadeja would be looking forward to a change in scene as his skills and experience would be much more revered in the young RR setup where Kumar Sangakkara is back as the head coach and would be looking to get the best out of both Jadeja and Sam Curran.
Shane Warne and Ravindra Jadeja bowled in tandem for RR in 2009 and 2010
Jadeja’s rise as an all-round talent was well documented in his early years with RR with the legendary Shane Warne referring to him as ‘A Superstar in the Making’. After a gap of 15 years, the all-rounder is back where things started for him and alongside Curran, would allow the Royals to play a deeper batting line-up with more bowling options.
Eoin Morgan feels Sanju Samson is the perfect fit for CSK
If I look at this from a neutral lens, both teams have walked away with what they wanted, as Rajasthan Royals were short on all-rounders last season, while CSK lacked the firepower at the top, ultimately finishing with the wooden spoon in IPL 2025.
With MS Dhoni edging towards the last one or two years of his IPL career, and many reports suggesting that the 44-year old might feature as an impact player and not don the gloves, Sanju can step into Dhoni’s role with ease behind the stumps.
Apart from his excellent glove work, Dhoni is known for giving valuable inputs, which helped Ruturaj Gaikwad grow as a leader, and Samson, with his rich experience of leading RR and being part of India’s 2024 ICC T20 World Cup-winning squad, can offer similar inputs to Gaikwad, who will continue to lead CSK despite Samson’s arrival.
Prashant Veer and Kartik Sharma have been identified as Jadeja’s and Dhoni’s respective heirs in the lower middle order, along with the presence of Dewald Brevis and Shivam Dube, who complete CSK’s middle order.
Along with the upcoming prodigious talent Ayush Mhatre and skipper Gaikwad, Samson could be the perfect fit for CSK’s top order as the opening batter from Kerala is equally adept at playing seam and spin bowlers.
Sanju has learnt from the best, as he was often on the sidelines watching Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli do their respective jobs with 100% precision. At RR, Sanju has also played under the captaincy of internationally acclaimed leaders like Steve Smith and Ajinkya Rahane, who are very tactically astute, and those learnings would certainly come in use in the near future when he would be one of the senior-most players in the CSK squad once Dhoni hangs up his boots.
Contributed by– David Warner, Brand Ambassador Parimatch Sports & Eoin Morgan, Chief Cricket Analysts Parimatch Sports
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Thanks for making this so reader-friendly.