IPL 2026: Captains Who Might Be Released Before This Season

IPL 2026: Captains Who Might Be Released Before This Season

After an exciting two months of action in the eighteenth edition of the Indian Premier League, it's now time to analyse the season. There were a few leaders who were impressed with their performance in the IPL 2025, and a few who were disappointed. In the IPL 2025, there were young captains like Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Axar Patel, and Rajat Patidar. On one side, we saw Rajat Patidar lead RCB to their first-ever trophy; on the other, we saw some disappointing performances. Today, in this article, we will discuss a few captains who were disappointed this season and could be released before IPL 2026.

Rishabh Pant

The first captain on our list is Rishabh Pant, who was acquired by Lucknow Super Giants for a whopping bid of 27 crore, making him the most expensive player in the history of the IPL. Lucknow later made Pant the captain of the team, with team owner Sanjiv Goenka even stating he could be the next MS Dhoni in IPL and suggesting they would bet on Pant for the next several years. However, this season, Pant and Company disappointed LSG fans throughout the season. On one side, Lucknow performed poorly, while Rishabh Pant did not perform well on the batting side either, failing to score a total of a hundred runs in the first 13 matches played this season. In the last match, he scored a century against RCB, but that innings could not heal the wounds that fans endured throughout the season. After this, there has been much speculation that LSG management could release Rishabh Pant before IPL 2026, as he couldn't justify the price tag of 27 crore rupees.

Ajinkya Rahane

The next player on our list of captains who could be released before IPL 2026 is Ajinkya Rahane. The former Indian Test vice-captain delivered a spectacular series of performances before the IPL 2025, where he shone in the limited-over domestic tournaments, scoring back-to-back half-centuries and match-winning knocks. Because of this kind of performance, the Kolkata Knight Riders made Ajinkya the captain for the IPL 2025, as the team released their title-winning captain, Shreyas Iyer, before the season,. But this step didn't work for the team Kolkata, neither could they qualify for the playoffs, nor impressed with their performance throughout the season, both in terms of leadership and team balance. After this disappointing performance, Rahane could be released by the Kolkata Knight Riders before the IPL 2026 auction.

Sanju Samson

As we discuss the captains who could be released by their respective franchises before the IPL 2026 auction, the next player who makes it to our list is an exciting talent from Kerala, Sanju Samson. Sanju, who has not been part of the IPL for almost a decade, has given some amazing performances with the bat in the previous seasons, but when it comes to leading the team, one thing can be easily determined that he has not worked as a great captain for the Rajasthan Royals franchise. Season after season, Rajasthan has tried to invest in Sanju as a long-term captain, but he hasn't given any amazing results so far. But now, after the even worse performance from Rajasthan this year, RR management could decide to part ways with Sanju Samson before the IPL 2026 auction and release them in the season. However, he couldn't lead the team in all the matches, but he didn't impress either in the matches he led, and he lost most of the matches.

Also Read: IPL 2026: Full List of Released Players by All 10 Teams Ahead of Mini Auction