The Rajasthan Royals' exit from IPL 2026. After losing to Gujarat Titans in the 2nd Qualifier on Friday, Kumar Sangakkara (Royal Coach) expressed strong feelings on how Surrey's Sam Curran availability hurt them this year.
The Season Ending Injury That Wasn't
However the Royals had already managed to seal a big coup over the offseason by buying Curran in a trade deal worth Rs 2.40 crore. The franchise was dealt a huge setback before the start of the league when Curran withdrew from the tournament.
The all-rounder sustained a groin injury during England’s T20 World Cup campaign. Scans showed that the injury was significant enough that it required a lengthy spell of rehabilitation. At that time, Curran was reportedly massively disappointed about missing out on the fat money of the league.
The story took a big turn when Curran appeared in a match for Surrey in the Vitality Blast earlier than expected. Clearly unhappy with the outcome, the former player revealed that they had not been told anything about the player's quick recovery.
We were given the impression that Sammy Curran had a season-ending injury, Sangakkara explained. Yet, I think I saw him play two or three games for Surrey. That was really frustrating because we would have loved to have him here with us.
Pivoting to Dasun Shanaka
Every sporting team's management would face an immediate crisis when losing to injury a top rated all-round player from an international squad close to starting. Once it became apparent that Curran would be unavailable for the entire period of 2 months due to medical complications, the Rajasthan Royals utilised the overseas roster exemption to bring Sri Lankan captain Dasun Shanaka in to replace him.
The head coach was pleased that the players, as a unit, had been able to overcome adversity when they were very close to making the finals despite the huge loss of quality a player of Curran's stature meant to the Rajasthan franchise at the outset of the season.
The story took a big turn when Curran appeared in a match for Surrey in the Vitality Blast earlier than expected. Clearly unhappy with the outcome, the former player revealed that they had not been told anything about the player's quick recovery.
We were given the impression that Sammy Curran had a season-ending injury, Sangakkara explained. Yet, I think I saw him play two or three games for Surrey. That was really frustrating because we would have loved to have him here with us.
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