Rajasthan Royals are closing in on a deal for trading Sanju Samson with Kolkata Knight Riders. It is understood that the Royals have already sent their choice of players to the Shah Rukh Khan-owned franchise and initial talks hint at a breakthrough in the next few days.

However, the players the Knight Riders are willing to trade for Samson have been kept a closely guarded secret.

The Royals have been looking for a quality spinner, but the question of KKR trading Sunil Narine or Varun Chakravarthy for Samson doesn’t arise, sources
told The Telegraph.

There is talk that KKR could trade promising batter Angkrish Raghuvanshi or all-rounder Ramadeep Singh for the Royals captain since the Rahul Dravid-coached franchise are also looking to strengthen their middle-order, which had let them down badly during IPL 2025.

As far as a trade is concerned, if the player swap doesn’t materialise, it could also be an all-cash deal. Samson was retained by the Royals for ₹18 crore.

A top functionary of KKR refused to confirm the development, while Royals’ principal owner, Manoj Badale, didn’t respond to messages and telephone calls from
this newspaper.

Samson’s presence would provide KKR with a wicketkeeper besides strengthening their top-order. He can also lead the side if KKR release Ajinkya Rahane.

A potential trade with Chennai Super Kings apparently fell through after the five-time champions refused to part ways with Ravindra Jadeja or Ruturaj Gaikwad. CSK, as a policy, have never traded players with other franchises.

Ravichandran Ashwin’s name, who has already expressed a desire to go back to the auction, has also been speculated but the Royals are apparently not keen on having the former India off-spinner.

Samson is learnt to have approached the CSK management and head coach Stephen Fleming during the Major League Cricket season in the US in June. Though CSK were keen to rope him in, the franchise shot down the Royals’ choice of players for the trade-off.

Samson has requested that he be released following differences with the Royals management. The IPL rules favour the franchise and once a player is signed through retention or auction, he is contractually bound to play for them for three years. There’s nothing much a player can do unless the franchise releases him.

The differences reportedly began once the Royals decided not to retain Jos Buttler.

“Letting him go has been one of the most challenging decisions for me. During the England series, I told him over dinner that I was still not over it. If I could change one thing in the IPL, I would change the rule of releasing players every three years,” Samson had said on Star Sports.

KKR are also learnt to have renewed their interest in roping in Royals’ current director of cricket Kumar Sangakkara. They are without a head coach since releasing Chandrakant Pandit earlier this month.

The retention deadline is in November.