“Sanju Samson is the face of Rajasthan Royals…”, Faf du Plessis said this big thing before IPL 2026

IPL 2026: IPL 2026 will start from March 28. Preparations for the tournament are going on in full swing. This time there will not be much change in the squads of all the 10 teams from the last season, but there is one change in IPL 2026 on which everyone’s eyes are going to be. That is Sanju Samson leaving Rajasthan Royals and going to Chennai Super Kings. Now the reaction of former South African legend Faf du Plessis has come to light, in which he has called it a loss for Rajasthan Royals.

Faf du Plessis said a big thing about Sanju Samson

Faf du Plessis, while talking to Jio Hotstar a few days before the start of IPL 2026, said that if we look at all the IPS teams, most of the teams definitely have a player who has been playing for them for the last many years. These players include the names of MS Dhoni, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, whose faces come first when the name of their team is taken. Sanju Samson was similarly the face of Rajasthan Royals. Rajasthan Royals will suffer loss due to his departure. Sanju may be a new generation player, but he had become the face of the Rajasthan team. Therefore, I think that after his departure, it is not going to be easy for Rajasthan Royals to keep the fans engaged.

There will be pressure on Yashasvi Jaiswal due to Sanju Samson’s departure – Du Plessis

Regarding Rajasthan Royals, Faf du Plessis further said that after the departure of Sanju Samson, the most pressure will be on Yashasvi Jaiswal, who used to play his natural game during his tenure, but now it is not going to be easy for Yashasvi to do so. Now they will have to play responsibly, which will not be easy for them.

Rajasthan Royals made Riyan Parag the captain

After the departure of Sanju Samson, before the start of IPL 2026 season, Rajasthan Royals has appointed Ryan Parag as the captain of the team. Last year also, Parag had captained the team in the initial season in the absence of Sanju. RR’s performance under his captaincy was nothing special. Now Riyan Parag has become the regular captain. Rajasthan won its first and only IPL trophy in 2008 under the captaincy of Shane Warne. In such a situation, now Parag’s responsibility will be to win the second trophy for the team. Now it remains to be seen how the performance of Rajasthan Royals is under his captaincy.

Rajasthan Royals squad for IPL 2026

Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Aman Rao Perala, Shimron Hetmyer, Shubham Dubey, Dhruv Jurel, Donovan Ferreira, Luan-Dre Pretorius, Ravi Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Ryan Parag, Sam Curran, Adam Milne, Brijesh Sharma, Joffra Archer, Kuldeep Sen, Quena Mafaka, Nandre Berger, Ravi Bishnoi, Sandeep Sharma, Sushant Mishra, Tushar Deshpande, Vignesh Puthur, Yash Raj Punja, Yudhveer Singh Charak

Rajasthan Royals will play their first match in IPL 2026 on March 30.

Rajasthan Royals will play its first match in IPL 2026 on March 30. Rajasthan Royals will face Chennai Super Kings. This match between the two teams will be played at Barasapara Stadium in Guwahati. After this, on April 4, Rajasthan Royals will face Gujarat Titans in the second match. This match will be played at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

March 30 – Rajasthan Royals vs Chennai Super Kings, Barasapara Stadium

April 4 – Gujarat Titans vs Rajasthan Royals, Narendra Modi Stadium

7 April – Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians, Barasapara Stadium

April 10 – Rajasthan Royals vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Barasapara Stadium

Also read: Before the start of IPL 2026, know which 5 great players will be the eyes of fans all over the world, who will create havoc with the bat.