Rajasthan Royals are left without any solid all-rounders now.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) all-rounder Sam Curran has been ruled out of IPL 2026. According to ESPNcricinfo, Curran sustained a suspected groin injury and won’t be fit in time to participate in the tournament.
He was traded from Chennai Super Kings (CSK), along with Ravindra Jadeja, for Sanju Samson ahead of IPL 2026. His last outing in competitive cricket came at the T20 World Cup 2026 semifinal, where England crashed out after a defeat to India.
At the moment, Rajasthan Royals have not announced a replacement yet, but they are exploring options to replace Curran with a like-for-like all-rounder. This indeed comes as a massive setback for RR, who are looking to start fresh in the post-Samson era under a new captain, Riyan Parag.
Curran would have contributed with both bat and ball and looked in fine form in the ICC event preceding IPL 2026. He took six wickets at 34.16 runs apiece and scored 167 runs at a strike rate of 120.14 in eight outings.
Sam Curran was set to take one of the four overseas slots, along with Shimron Hetmyer, Jofra Archer, and Donovan Ferreira. However, his absence leaves RR in massive trouble since their lower order is already vulnerable and might struggle to hit regular boundaries in the death overs.
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RR could play Shubham Sharma in Curran’s absence since he has decent power against pace and has succeeded in the lower-order hitting role. That will weaken their bowling attack and leave them with fewer options, but the priority should be to get some batting value.
In the bowling department, RR have a couple of left-arm overseas pacers, Nandre Burger and Kwena Maphaka, to use if they want to strengthen the pace attack and get more value. Fortunately for the Royals, the Impact Player rule will allow them to play an extra batter and a bowler.
However, Sam Curran was still an all-rounder, and unfortunately for Rajasthan Royals, they don’t have other all-rounders in their squad. They will seek a replacement, but the best ones are already sold, and they might need to settle for inferior options for IPL 2026.
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