Sanju Samson IPL Team for 2027: CSK Status and Full IPL Journey

Sanju Samson plays for Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the IPL. Rajasthan Royals traded him to CSK on 15 November 2025 for Ravindra Jadeja and Sam Curran, and he kept his Rs 18 crore fee. As of 13 October 2026, no trade or release has been announced, so he remains a CSK player for IPL 2027.

Samson has played 191 IPL matches and scored 5,181 runs with five hundreds, up to the end of IPL 2026. Here is his full IPL journey, season by season, along with his captaincy record and what is being said about CSK’s plans for 2027.

Sanju Samson IPL teams list

Samson has been part of four IPL franchises, though he has played matches for only three of them.

He moved to Delhi in 2016 because Rajasthan Royals were suspended for two seasons. When Rajasthan returned in 2018, they bought him back at the auction.

Sanju Samson IPL runs by season

The figures below cover every season he has played, from his debut year in 2013 to IPL 2026.

Early years at Rajasthan Royals (2013 to 2015)

Samson was with Kolkata Knight Riders in 2012 but did not get a game. Rajasthan Royals picked him for 2013, and he made an impression straight away. He became the youngest player at the time to score an IPL fifty and won the Emerging Player award that season.

In 2013 he also became the youngest to score a fifty in the Champions League T20, with 54 against Mumbai Indians. Over the next two seasons he became a regular in the RR side.

Delhi Daredevils stint (2016 to 2017)

With RR out of the league, Samson spent two seasons at Delhi Daredevils, now Delhi Capitals. He scored 291 runs in 2016 and 386 in 2017.

The 2017 season gave him his first IPL hundred, 102 against Rising Pune Supergiant. It was also his first century in any T20 match.

Back at Rajasthan and the captaincy years (2018 to 2025)

Rajasthan bought Samson back in 2018 for Rs 8 crore. He scored 441 runs that year and added his second IPL hundred, an unbeaten 102 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, in 2019.

He was named captain ahead of IPL 2021 and scored 119 against Punjab Kings in his first match as skipper. That 119 is still his highest IPL score. RR retained him for Rs 14 crore ahead of the 2022 mega auction, and that year he led them to their first final since 2008. They lost the final to Gujarat Titans.

In 2024 he had his best season with 531 runs and five fifties, and RR reached Qualifier 2, where they lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 36 runs. RR retained him for Rs 18 crore before IPL 2025. That season he was hit by injury, played nine matches and scored 285 runs, with Riyan Parag leading the side in the games he missed.

According to The Tribune, Samson captained RR in 67 matches, winning 33 and losing 33. In 2022 he also passed Ajinkya Rahane to become Rajasthan’s highest run-scorer of all time.

Why Sanju Samson moved to CSK

Samson’s exit from Rajasthan was one of the biggest trades in IPL history. On 15 November 2025, the IPL confirmed that he had moved to Chennai Super Kings at his existing fee of Rs 18 crore.

• Samson to CSK: Rs 18 crore
• Ravindra Jadeja to RR: fee revised from Rs 18 crore to Rs 14 crore
• Sam Curran to RR: Rs 2.4 crore

Ruturaj Gaikwad stayed on as CSK captain for 2026, so Samson played as a batter in Chennai’s top order.

Sanju Samson IPL 2026 season with CSK

His first CSK season was a good one for him personally, though not for the team. He scored 477 runs in 14 innings at a strike rate of 165.62, with two hundreds and one fifty. He was CSK’s highest run-scorer for the season.

• 115 off 56 vs Delhi Capitals at Chepauk on 11 April 2026
• 101* vs Mumbai Indians at Wankhede on 23 April 2026, as CSK won by 103 runs. He was the first CSK batter to score an IPL hundred against MI.
• 87 off 52 vs Delhi Capitals on 5 May 2026

The season did not start well. He scored 6, 7 and 9 in CSK’s first three games, against Rajasthan Royals, Punjab Kings and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The hundred against Delhi in the fourth match turned things around.

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The finish was also quiet. After the 87 against Delhi, his next four scores were 28, 20, 27 and a first-ball duck against Gujarat Titans on 21 May, the game that knocked CSK out. Most of his 477 runs came in three innings, which shows how much CSK depended on his big days.

He became only the second CSK batter after Shane Watson to hit two hundreds for the team in one season. CSK, however, finished eighth with six wins from 14 games and missed the playoffs. MS Dhoni did not play a single match in 2026.

Sanju Samson IPL records

1. Five IPL hundreds: 102 (2017), 102* (2019), 119 (2021), 115 (2026) and 101* (2026). This put him level with KL Rahul at the time.
2. Highest score: 119 vs Punjab Kings, 2021.
3. Rajasthan’s leading run-scorer: 4,219 runs for RR across the IPL and Champions League T20, per The Tribune.
4. Hundred in first match as captain: 119 vs Punjab Kings in 2021.
5. 5,000 IPL runs: He crossed the mark in 2026 and ended the season on 5,181.

After the hundred against Mumbai in April 2026, his career IPL strike rate stood at 140.87 with an average of 31.82, according to NewsBytes. He also had 702 runs against MI alone, one of his best records against any side.

Sanju Samson IPL team for 2027: what we know

At the time of writing (October 2026), Samson is a CSK player. There has been no official announcement of a trade, release or new deal for IPL 2027, and franchises have not yet published their retention lists.

CSK have made one big change already. In September 2026, the franchise appointed Zaheer Khan as head coach in place of Stephen Fleming. Former players such as Sadagoppan Ramesh have also asked CSK to make Samson captain instead of Ruturaj Gaikwad, but no decision has been announced. Our report on the call to make Samson CSK captain has more on that debate, and you can read about Zaheer Khan’s appointment here.

Any change to his team for 2027 can only come through a trade or a release before the auction, and both will be announced officially by the IPL. Until then, treat social media claims about a move as rumours.

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