Riyan Parag will captain Rajasthan Royals in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026. The 24-year-old cricketer from Assam, who has been associated with the Rajasthan-based franchise in the world’s richest franchise cricket league since 2019, will take over the reins from Sanju Samson. Samson, who is RR’s most capped player, highest run-scorer and most successful skipper, left the franchise to join Chennai Super Kings in a trade deal last year ahead of the IPL 2026 auctions.
Parag, who was retained for Rs 14 crore by Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auctions and has 1566 runs to his credit in 84 IPL matches played so far, made his captaincy debut for RR in the IPL last year. In Samson’s absence, Parag led the inaugural edition winners in eight matches but was only able to win two.
For the top job, Parag was preferred over the likes of Ravindra Jadeja, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Sam Curran. Jadeja, who joined RR in a trade deal last year, has captained Chennai Super Kings in the past, whereas Jaiswal, who is RR’s most expensive player (retained for Rs 18 crore ahead of the IPL 2025 mega auction), has publicly expressed his desire to captain the team on multiple occasions in the past.
As for Curran, the English all-rounder has huge experience of leading various teams around the globe in T20 leagues. In the IPL, he has captained Punjab Kings in the past, and in January 2026, he also led Desert Vipers to their maiden International League T20 (ILT20) title.
Parag will be seventh full-time captain of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL. Before him, Shane Warne, Shane Watson, Rahul Dravid, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Sanju Samson have captained the Men in Pink on a full-time basis in the cash-rich league.
