Ravindra Jadeja will soon return to Rajasthan Royals.Image Credit source: PTI

IPL 2026: The news of trade of Sanju Samson and Ravindra Jadeja has garnered the most discussion in the IPL 2026 trading window. Before the auction for the new season of the league, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings have agreed to exchange their two superstar players. Although this trade deal is yet to be officially announced, but gradually things related to it are coming out and one aspect of it is that of captaincy. A report has claimed that Jadeja had put a condition of captaincy before Rajasthan before agreeing to the trade and now the franchise seems to be ready for it.

Jadeja will return as captain

News18 report claims that Rajasthan Royals is also ready for a change in leadership in the form of an experienced and new face like Jadeja. Jadeja started his IPL career with this franchise. Actually, due to Sanju Samson leaving Rajasthan, the team will have to take a decision on the new captain. Samson has been captaining Rajasthan Royals for the last four seasons. However, in the last season, when he could not play some matches due to injury or was playing only as an impact player, Riyan Parag took up this responsibility.

But the Royals, desperate to include Jadeja, have decided to give preference to experience over a young face as the new captain. If this happens, Jadeja will be seen captaining for the second time in IPL. However, his previous experience was not very good. Earlier in 2022, when MS Dhoni left the captaincy of CSK, Jadeja was made the captain. But the team's performance under his captaincy was very poor and he was removed midway through the season after just 8 matches.

Not good news for Jaiswal-Parag

Now if Jadeja is really made the captain, then the young players of the team and the contenders for captaincy, Ryan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal, would hardly like it. In the last season, where Riyan Parag had taken over the captaincy in some matches, Yashasvi Jaiswal had also expressed his desire of captaincy in some interviews after the end of the season. If Jadeja was not made the captain, then one of these two would have taken this responsibility. However, until an official announcement is made, all options will be open.