"He can take advantage of the big boundaries at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium" - Aakash Chopra on Rajasthan Royals ahead of IPL 2026 auction

Former India player Aakash Chopra has opined that the Rajasthan Royals (RR) have benefited greatly from their trades ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. He highlighted that Sam Curran could be an extremely useful all-rounder at their home ground, as the conditions would suit his bowling.

RR traded in Ravindra Jadeja and Donovan Ferreira, apart from Curran, ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. Apart from trading out Sanju Samson and Nitish Rana, they released seven players and have an available purse of ₹16.05 crore heading into the auction.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, 'Aakash Chopra,' the former India opener opined that the Rajasthan Royals got a great deal in their acquisitions of Jadeja, Curran and Ferreira.

"Rajasthan released Sanju Samson for ₹18 crore and acquired three players for that amount - Ravindra Jadeja, Sam Curran and Donovan Ferreira. They have got a very, very sweet deal. Sam Curran is an all-rounder, and although he is not a death bowler, he can take advantage of the big boundaries at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. He does a good job on a slow, low pitch," he said. (5:30)

However, Chopra noted that RR need to acquire specialist spinners at the auction, suggesting Ravi Bishnoi, Rahul Chahar and Karn Sharma as potential options.

"However, if you see in bowling, who is the spinner? They have released Wanindu Hasaranga. They won't take him back. Maheesh Theekshana didn't really do a job. Ravi Bishnoi is from Jodhpur and can play for the Jaipur team. They might go towards him. They might go towards Rahul Chahar or Karn Sharma," he observed.

Aakash Chopra added that the Rajasthan Royals would also need an Indian middle-order batter and potentially a backup for Shimron Hetmyer. While acknowledging that RR already have a few left-handed batters, the cricketer-turned-commentator reckoned Venkatesh Iyer could be an option for the franchise.

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"Riyan Parag is an automatic choice" - Aakash Chopra on Rajasthan Royals' captaincy candidates for IPL 2026

Riyan Parag captained RR in a few games in IPL 2025. [P?C: Getty]

In the same video, Aakash Chopra noted that the Rajasthan Royals need to appoint a captain and named Riyan Parag and Ravindra Jadeja as potential candidates.

"Whom will they make the captain? Riyan Parag is an automatic choice because he was last year as well. Everyone knows about their love for Riyan. Ravindra Jadeja is coming after taking a ₹4 crore pay cut. He could have taken a ₹4 crore pay cut because he might have been offered captaincy," he said. (8:20)

The analyst opined that Yashasvi Jaiswal would also want to captain the franchise, highlighting that Shubman Gill potentially pipped the left-handed opener to a place in India's T20I side based on his captaincy credentials.

"I feel Yashasvi Jaiswal wants captaincy. He would say that his name is not coming in the Indian T20I and ODI team because he is not a captaincy candidate. You have selected Shubman in T20Is because he is a captaincy candidate. If you do man-to-man marking, he (Jaiswal) was in the T20 World Cup team and was ahead in the pecking order. He is likely to throw his hat in the ring," Chopra observed.

To conclude, Aakash Chopra urged the Rajasthan Royals to appoint Yashasvi Jaiswal as their captain. The former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) player noted that he won't be surprised if Jaiswal doesn't stay with RR after IPL 2026 if he isn't made the captain.