R Ashwin feels the chances of Sanju Samson's move to CSK look bleak. (BCCI)The Sanju Samson IPL 2025 transfer/trade continues to spur interest with latest repots intending that the Rajasthan Royals have indeed begun negotiations with multiple franchises after the Kerala batter had express his intention to leave the side. The Rajasthan skipper has since been closely associated with a move to Chennai Super Kings, with the five-time champions expressing interest in a transfer.
The Indian Express had previously reported that after the conclusion of the IPL, Samson even met with the CSK management and head coach Stephen Fleming during the Major League Cricket season in US. Chennai were open to the idea of bringing the 30-year-old to Chepauk through a trade deal via cash. But it has hit a roadblock, with Rajasthan preferring an exchange of two players from Chennai. The five-time champions as a CSK policy have traded players with other franchises. When they bought Robin Uthappa ahead of the 2021 season from Rajasthan it was an all-cash deal.
Samson’s former RR teammate R Ashwin, who is also understood to have expressed his interest to leave the CSK franchise, explained that Samson’s move to Chepauk may not come to fruition ahead of the 2026 IPL season.
“Why the CSK-RR trade won’t work is because if Sanju is traded to CSK, and RR then try to trade with other teams, they’re unlikely to get valuable players in return. For example, if RR want a spinner like Ravi Bishnoi and approach LSG, the problem is that if LSG acquire Sanju and give away Bishnoi, they also have to manage the remaining purse required to retain Sanju — which becomes LSG’s responsibility,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.
Ashwin further explained that Chennai do not generally incline towards trading players and will not certainly give away players worth Rs 18 crore to match a Samson deal.
“CSK generally don’t believe in trading. They aren’t going to trade players like Ravindra Jadeja or Shivam Dube. So, in all likelihood, Sanju coming to CSK is bleak, for the reasons I’ve explained. RR don’t have much to gain from this kind of trade,” said Ashwin on his Youtube Channel.
Stay updated with the latest sports news across Cricket, Football, Chess, and more. Catch all the action with real-time live cricket score updates and in-depth coverage of ongoing matches.
3 min read
