With England all-rounder Sam Curran ruled out of the 2026 IPL, Rajasthan Royals have moved swiftly and picked up Sri Lanka’s T20 captain Dasun Shanaka to replace the injured Curran.
Curran, who was part of a pre-auction trade between Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and RR in which CSK acquired Sanju Samson and the Royals also got Ravindra Jadeja, has a groin issue, which has ruled him out of the IPL.
Dasun Shanaka will join RR for Rs 2 crore. Shanaka has represented Sri Lanka in 6 Tests, 71 ODIs and 131 T20Is and has over 3350 international runs and 86 wickets in international cricket against his name.
Shanaka had played for Gujarat Titans
The Sri Lankan all-rounder has previously played for Gujarat Titans (GT) in the IPL.
Shanaka, a lower-order batter and medium-pace bowler who led Sri Lanka at the recent T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, comes in with good batting form: he hit a 20-ball 50 against Oman and 76 not out in 31 balls against Pakistan. He has played one season of the IPL in the past, in 2023, when he played three games for Titans with unspectacular returns.
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Shanaka is the second player to walk away from his PSL team to join an IPL franchise in the past few days after Muzarabani opted out of his deal with Islamabad United once Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) reached out to him to be a replacement for Mustafizur Rahman, who the team had to release on instructions from the BCCI because of geopolitical tensions between India and Bangladesh.
For Royals, who have not won the IPL title after their triumph in 2008, Shanaka joins a strong list of overseas players, the others being Shimron Hetmyer, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, Donovan Ferreira, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Kwena Maphaka and Adam Milne.
Royals had finished one off the bottom last season and will begin their IPL 2026 campaign against Chennai Superkings in Guwahati on March 30.
