Jos Butler’s Release One of the Main Reasons Behind Sanju Samson Wanting to Leave Rajasthan Royals

Sanju Samson reportedly wants to leave Rajasthan Royals because the franchise let go off his old teammate.

Jos Butler’s Release One of the Main Reasons Behind Sanju Samson Wanting to Leave Rajasthan Royals

Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson (via India TV News)

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The Indian Premier League 2026 is several months away. However, with the auction scheduled at the end of this year, teams have already begun making trades beforehand so that they can put themselves in the best position to take advantage way ahead of the big day.

The much-talked about update is the one of Sanju Samson. The 30-year-old who has been the face of Rajasthan Royals for over a decade, has surprisingly expressed his desire to leave the franchise ahead of the 2026 IPL.

Fans who have passionately supported the franchise have been quite baffled with the decision of their captain who has been a run bank for them. As per reports there have been several differences going on between Samson and the team management over the last year.

One such difference that has caught the light is the release of Jos Buttler that the franchise had done prior to the 2025 IPL edition. Samson, reportedly was extremely unhappy with the decision and in a few interviews prior to the start of this year’s IPL had said that it was very unfortunate that Buttler had to leave the team.

Buttler and Samson had a great bond for the franchise, and both were sharing the run scoring rather effectively for the team. Buttler would usually score big opening the batting and Samson at three would take on the middle overs putting the Royals in great positions often.

This bond was broken by the management and Buttler stepped into the auction. As expected, he was quickly bid for and the Gujarat Titans roped him at a hefty price of Rs. 15.75 Crore. Titans, qualified for the playoffs and Buttler had a great season this time around whereas the Royals had a dismal season.

What price did Sanju Samson and Rajasthan Royals pay after leaving Jos Buttler?

Jos Buttler who started his IPL career with the Mumbai Indians in 2016 was bought by the Rajasthan Royals in 2018. He started as a lower order batter but as the years went he gradually came to the top of the order scoring a plethora of runs.

Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson batting together.
Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson (via ESPNcricinfo)

Buttler stayed with the Royals for a long 7 seasons and had a great connection with captain Sanju Samson. The 34-year-old who has scored a total of 4120 runs in the league got 3055 of these playing for the Royals. He scored these runs in just 83 games at an impressive average of 41.85 and a thundering strike rate of 147.8.

He scored a record 7 centuries for the franchise and remarkably 4 of those came in one season back in 2022, where he amassed a massive 863 runs in just one year winning the Orange Cap award as well. Despite such great returns Buttler was let go by his franchise and joined Shubman Gill at the Gujarat Titans.

Buttler seamlessly slotted in the Titans batting line up at number 3 behind the formidable pair of Gill and Sai Sudarshan. The Englishman continued his great form as he scored 538 runs in just 13 innings at an average of 59.78.

Buttler along with Gill and Sudarshan scored a major chunk of the runs and powered the Titans into the playoffs. The Royals however couldn’t find consistency in their batting line up right throughout the season and ached for not having a batter like Buttler.

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