“I would have groomed Riyan Parag under him”

Former Team India all-rounder Ravichandran Ashwin believes the Rajasthan Royals (RR) would have been better served by appointing Ravindra Jadeja as captain and grooming Riyan Parag under the veteran in the next two IPL seasons. With their skipper for the last four years, Sanju Samson, traded in the off-season, the franchise appointed Parag as the skipper for the upcoming 2026 edition.

Parag led RR in eight games last season during Samson’s frequent absences due to injury. However, the side won only two of those matches and ultimately finished ninth overall in the standings with 10 losses in 14 outings.

Talking about RR’s captaincy move ahead of IPL 2026, Ashwin said on his YouTube channel (26:43):

“I am not very sure of their leadership stem. I would have made Ravindra Jadeja the captain for two years and groomed Riyan Parag under him. RR, being analytically sound, will help Riyan Parag. But I feel Riyan Parag, the captain, has too much on his plate. He’s a free-spirited player. Yes, he has captained Assam. But there is a huge difference between captaining Assam and in the IPL.”

He added:

“Jofra Archer blows hot and cold. How Parag is going to extract the best out of Archer is a big challenge. Though Ravi Bishnoi isn’t coming off a great season, he will turn the heat on, which will help Parag. Ravindra Jadeja will be his usual reliable self. Where Shimron Hetmyer bats is another question they have.”

Riyan Parag has been with the Rajasthan-based franchise throughout his IPL career, which started in 2019.

“Will play the role of spoilers for other teams to perfection this season” – R Ashwin on KKR

Ravichandran Ashwin believes the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will struggle to qualify for the playoffs in the upcoming IPL 2026 season. However, with a world-class spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakaravarthy, Ashwin backed the 2024 champions to play the role of spoilers to perfection this season.

“They (KKR) have two intimidating spinners in Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine. But I feel even the fear factor for them won’t be relevant this season. Yet, there is enough quality in Varun and Narine to win them a few games. KKR will play the role of spoilers for other teams to perfection this season,” said Ashwin (via the aforementioned source).

He continued:

“There are some teams KKR will match up well against based on conditions, like RR. RR’s batting lineup is made up of young batters who might flounder against KKR’s bowling lineup, especially without Sanju.”

KKR struggled for consistency with bat and ball last year, finishing eighth in the standings with only five wins in 14 games.