The Rajasthan Royals (RR) had a disappointing campaign in the IPL 2025 season as they finished in ninth place on the points table with four wins out of 14 games.

They are yet to end their trophy drought who they been the inaugural IPL champions. Despite having found some young talents and key players, they will have to make a few changes in the side.

However, they can afford to make some changes, and by releasing some players, they will be aiming to sign some young talents during the IPL 2026 auction.

The event is likely to be held in the January-February window ahead of the IPL 2026 tournament, which usually follows the March-May window.

According to IPL 2026 auction rules, there are no restrictions on the number of players who can be released or retained.

In addition to the purse remaining from the previous auction and the value of the players they release, teams will likely to have a total purse value of INR 151 crore for the upcoming season.

Listed below are players likely to be released by Rajasthan Royals (RR).

• Fazalhaq Farooqi
• Sanja Samson
• Maheesh theekshana
• Canaan is not
• Nitish Rana

Fazalhaq Farooqi

Fazalhaq Farooqi has made a five matches during IPL 2025 and went wicketless, conceding runs at an economy rate of 12.35. He has already two promising overseas left-arm pacers in Nandre Burger and Kwena Maphaka.

With Maphaka showing significant potential, the franchise is likely to priortize his development over give Farooqi more opportunities.

Sanja Samson

Sanju Samson’s relation with Rajasthan Royals (RR) is not been in the way it used to be and has decided to part ways with the franchise.

Samson told Rajasthan Royals that he wants to be released ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. With the reasons for the decision is not known, the India wk-bater will stay at the franchise.

Maheesh theekshana

Maheesh Theekshana joined Rajasthan Royals (RR) having picked up 11 wickets from as many matches at an average of 37.27 and a economy rate of 9.76. This performance might just not be enough for Theekshana to get retention for IPL 2026.

Canaan is not

Wanindu Hasaranga who joined Rajasthan Royals (RR) for INR 5.25 crore but had an disappointing campaign having picked only 11 wickets in 11 games at an average of 33.03 and an economy rate of 9.05.

Nitish Rana

Nitish Rana who has been strong against spinners, but that wasn’t the case in IPL 2025. He scored only 91 runs from six innings and was dismissed four times against spinners.

He managed to score 217 runs from 11 games which included two fifties.

Apart from the released players list, we have also listed the probable retained players list of Rajasthan Royals (RR).

Listed below are the best possible retained players for RR.

• Yashasvi jaiswal
• Dhruv jurel
• Riyan parag
• Jofra Archer
• Shimron Hetmyer
• Sandeep Sharma
• Pitmen gray
• The more of the
• Vaibhav suryvanshi
• Ashok Sharma
• Lhuan-dre Pretorius

According to BCCI guidelines, the mini auction will take place in the January-February Window following the player trade window in December-January.

Although the exact date of the auction is yet to be disclosed, several sources have hinted that the IPL 2026 auction dates will be announced very soon.

This mini auction for IPL 2026 will allow franchises to target their required players for completing their squad after the pre-auction trade window.