3 big reasons why RR chose Riyan Parag as captain over Ravindra Jadeja for IPL 2026

RR have chosen Riyan Parag as the new captain over the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Dhruv Jurel.

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) have named Riyan Parag as the team’s captain for the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 campaign. The announcement came as a surprise to many cricket fans because they expected Indian veteran all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja to become the Royals’ new skipper.

Jadeja, who played for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) for a majority of his IPL career, joined the inaugural champions on a trade before the mini-auction. With the 37-year-old’s joining the Rajasthan Royals franchise, Sanju Samson became a part of the five-time champions.

Riyan Parag’s promotion to the steering seat has also come in the wake of Samson’s departure. Parag got the opportunity to lead the Royals as the captain last season while Samson was suffering from an injury. Out of the eight games, RR won only two in the 24-year-old’s captaincy.

Meanwhile, Parag has played only for the RR since his league debut in 2019, and he has been fortunate enough to captain the team with which he began his top-flight T20 journey. Thus, without any further ado, let’s take a look at the 3 big reasons why RR chose Riyan Parag as captain over Ravindra Jadeja.

3 big reasons why RR chose Riyan Parag as captain over Ravindra Jadeja

3. Home stadium advantage

Riyan Parag represents Assam in domestic cricket, and the Royals are likely to play a majority of their home games in Guwahati at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium. In that order, Parag is well-versed with the conditions in Assam and could give the Royals an upper hand in home games with his understanding of the pitch. The franchise chose the Barsapara Cricket Stadium as their second home venue for IPL 2025.

2. Long-term vision

At 24, Riyan Parag is one of the youngest and yet most experienced players on the team. Since making his debut in 2019, he has played 84 matches across seven different editions for Rajasthan Royals (including eight games as captain).

Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja, already 37, faces uncertainty about the remaining years of his professional career. Instead of playing it safe and giving captaincy to a marquee star, the Royals have decided to give young and home-grown talent a chance for the upcoming season.

1. Prior experience and current form

In his 84 matches for RR, Parag has accumulated 1566 runs, out of which 966 have come in the last two campaigns in a total of 28 innings. In 2024, he scored 573 runs and maintained an average of 52.09 for the inaugural champions.

However, last season, the Royals finished second last in the league with only four wins from 14 games, out of which Parag was in charge on eight occasions.

Despite the team failing to give solid performances under the 24-year-old captaincy, he maintained an average of 38.57 in those matches. Thus, Parag has experience leading RR and performing under pressure.

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