IPL 2026: Riyan Parag announced as new captain of Rajasthan Royals

Riyan Parag performed well for RR in the last two seasons.

Rajasthan Royals (RR), IPL 2008 champions, have finally announced the name of their new captain ahead of the IPL 2026 tournament. Sanju Samson captained RR from 2021 to 2025 after replacing Steve Smith at the helm.

However, Sanju Samson was traded by RR to Chennai Super Kings during the IPL 2026 trading window, and they got Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran in the trade.

Following the trade deal, several reports suggested that Ravindra Jadeja was given a firm indication that he would be made the captain, and hence he took a pay cut to return to his first IPL franchise. However, the Royals have put an end to all these rumours by announcing the name of their new captain.

Riyan Parag named new captain

Star all-rounder and India’s future star Riyan Parag is named Rajasthan Royals‘ new captain for the upcoming season. The franchise retained him before the auction.

Furthermore, ESPNCricinfo reported that Kumar Sangakkara, who replaced Rahul Dravid as the head coach of the RR franchise, interviewed several candidates for the captaincy. Finally, Sangakkara finalised the young Parag as the man who will lead RR from IPL 2026 onwards.

Riyan, who has leadership experience, is now becoming the new face of the franchise. When Samson was injured and missed eight games in Season 2025, the star all-rounder took charge of RR. Since making his IPL debut in 2019, Parag has played for the Rajasthan Royals for seven consecutive seasons.

So far, Parag has played 84 IPL matches. He scored 1566 runs and has taken 7 wickets as well. Parag’s best performance in IPL came in the 2024 edition, where he scored 573 runs at an average of 52.09 and a strike rate of 149.21.

RR will hope that Riyan brings new luck to the franchise. They endured a horrific season in IPL 2025, finishing 9th on the points table with only 4 wins from 14 games. The RR team management hopes that Parag brings a fresh breath of air to the franchise and a new structure under his leadership.

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