"We were clear with him" - RR owner's massive revelation on Sanju Samson after lattee's trade to CSK ahead of IPL 2026 Auction

Rajasthan Royals' owner Manoj Badale has explained how Sanju Samson's trade to the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of IPL 2026 auction worked out. The keeper-batter revealed that Samson was under emotional stress and felt the need to move on. Badale then promised to work out an alternate solution.

In one of the most high-profile developments in IPL history, the 31-year-old was traded to CSK from the Royals for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. Samson was traded to the Super Kings for his existing fee of ₹18 crore.

Speaking to ESPN Cricinfo, Badale stated that he promised to help out Samson only if it made the Royals stronger and that the keeper-batter respected their call. He elaborated:

"When you run an IPL franchise, players ask to leave, stay, get retained, put in the auction all the time because ultimately their primary lookout, as it should be, is themselves. And whether it's their earnings or whether it's their prospects of making the Indian team, that's true. In the case of Sanju, that was never the case.

" So when he says, 'Sir, I want to move on, I'm emotionally drained; I almost care too much and I feel like I need a fresh chapter', when he asks that, you have to listen. I was really clear with him that we would cooperate and try to seek an alternative chapter for him, but we would only do it if it was a player trade and we would only do it if our view was that the trade made the franchise stronger. And to be fair to him, he respected that. He agreed with that and he abided by that."

The elegant right-handed batter is the most-capped player for the Royals and their highest run-getter, aggregating 4219 runs in 155 games at 31.96 with two centuries. Having been appointed skipper in 2021, he lifted the Royals for the first time in the 2022 edtion since 2008. CSK are Samson's third IPL franchise.

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"There were sort of five teams, very, very interested" - Manoj Badale on acquiring Sanju Samson

Manoj Badale. (Image Credits: Getty)

When asked what if the trade with CSK had not been successful, Badale strongly said they would have retained Samson. He also disclosed that they had a detailed discussion with the Super Kings involving Samson himself before executing the trade. The 57-year-old said:

"We would retain him. The other two conditions of the process were: one, I would personally lead the process so that we had no leaks. It's a sensitive thing doing trades, because owners have to declare which players may be available in the knowledge that they may then be playing for them next year. You are also dealing with human beings. You are not dealing with robots. The second condition for the process was I would personally contact every franchise so that no franchise could ever say, 'oh, he did a deal with him because he's a friend of his'.

"So I did call every single franchise quite quickly. It was clear there were sort of five teams, very, very interested. As for why CSK, we went through a five to six week process of negotiation, analysis, review, as well as discussions with Sanju. And that's how we got to the answer we did."

Ruturaj Gaikwad will continue to captain the Super Kings in IPL 2026.