Former batter Aakash Chopra made a massive claim on Team India star KL Rahul and the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) ahead of the IPL 2026 auction. All ten teams submitted their list of retained and released players on November 15. Going back to the mega auction in 2025, Aakash Chopra reckoned that Rahul would have been an interesting pick for CSK. However, as they had already retained skipper Ruturaj Gaikwad, he felt that they would not have wanted two players with similar skills. Both batters play at the top and have a similar style of batting, he reflected. The five-time champions traded in wicketkeeper batter Sanju Samson from the Rajasthan Royals (RR) ahead of the IPL 2026 auction, letting go of all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran. Chopra reckoned that as they missed getting a quality wicketkeeper-batter at the mega auction in 2025, they felt Samson would be the best choice as a long-term successor for MS Dhoni. “I think CSK missed the bus during the mega auction. They had to make a call. I’m sure they would be dying for Pant but they did not have that much money. KL was an interesting choice and strange. He could have been good for CSK but Ruturaj was retained already so maybe they thought whether they needed two players with a similar style of batting. Ishan Kishan was an option too, but they missed the bus. They goofed up there. That is why Sanju is the best option now,” he said on Shubhankar Mishra’s YouTube channel. Samson has been a key batter for the Royals for several seasons. He has been impressive for India in T20Is with three hundreds and three half-centuries. In the IPL, he has scored 4704 runs in 172 innings at an average of 30. 94 with three hundreds and 26 fifties. Aakash Chopra’s blunt take on RR’s IPL 2025 mega auction This is not the first time that RR have let big players go or made huge decisions. Aakash Chopra highlighted that they had a poor IPL 2025 mega auction after letting go of big names like Ravichandran Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, and Jos Buttler. During the mega auction, they acquired two overseas spinners, Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana, a move that did not work well for them. However, Aakash Chopra reckoned that if they did not complicate things this time around, they could perform better than last year with some balance in the team in the form of Jadeja and Curran. “RR got their mega auction wrong, no doubt. You picked both overseas spinners. There was no logic there. They got it wrong. They had Ashwin and Yuzi and let both of them go. They left Boult and Buttler. It was a bad auction. If they do not complicate things this time, it will be good. They will have a good season if they keep the order set with Jadeja as the bridge as they did not have an all-rounder for five years or so,” he said. RR had a terrible season last year. They finished ninth on the table and managed to win just four out of their 14 matches.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/cricket/news-he-good-csk-ruturaj-retained-already-aakash-chopra-s-huge-statement-team-india-star-ahead-ipl-2026-auction
“He could have been good for CSK but Ruturaj was retained already” – Aakash Chopra’s huge statement on Team India star ahead of IPL 2026 auction
