Kumar Sangakkara expressed his disappointment when speaking about Sam Curran’s decision to skip IPL 2026 for Rajasthan Royals due to a groin injury. The former Sri Lankan player called it ‘disappointing’ as the all-rounder appeared for Surrey in the men’s Vitality Blast on May 22, marking his return to action.
RR were informed that Curran had a season-ending injury, even though the player informed that he would return whenever it felt right. Sangakkara’s remarks came after RR lost to Gujarat Titans in their playoff fixture, missing out on a berth in the final.
“We were told that Sam Curran had a season-ending injury, but I think I saw him playing for Surrey for two games or three games now. So that was disappointing,” he said.
“We would have loved to have had him here playing for us.”
Curran joined RR from Chennai Super Kings with Ravindra Jadeja, in exchange for Sanju Samson. As he wasn’t available to play, RR roped in Dasun Shanaka as his replacement on March 23. That also sparked controversy, as Shanaka had to withdraw from his deal with Lahore Qalandars in PSL 2026 to join RR. PSL has banned him from the tournament for a year as a result.
Curran played only as a batter and didn’t bowl in the three games he has played for Surrey. In 2024, the BCCI announced a two-year ban on players who pulled out after being picked at auctions.
“Yeah, I think a proper tight policy around that is always a requirement. The BCCI has a strict policy on that,” Sangakkara said.
“Injuries, every person goes through injuries, and if it’s a serious injury, a season ending injury, of course we understand.”
But Sangakkara also would have liked to have Curran around the RR setup. “We’ve also had players like Adam Milne, [Shimron] Hetmyer, quite a few who came here and not had much of a game; Lhuan-dre Pretorius is another one, Kwena Maphaka is another one. They’ve been here, they’ve done the hard yards, they’ve practiced, they’ve carried water for the team, and they’ve really worked as hard as anyone else to support the team in this journey,” he added.
Curran also revealed that he had been managing the groin problem throughout the T20 World Cup. “It’s an injury that I’ve kind of been battling with a little bit,” he said.
“It has gradually got fractionally worse. I went for a couple of scans and it showed reasonable damage, so I had to make the tough decision. It was hindering me quite a bit,” he added.
