Chennai Super Kings are all but certain to hand over former captain Ravindra Jadeja to Rajasthan Royals as part of a high-profile IPL trade deal ahead of the December mini-auction, in a move to acquire Sanju Samson. While nothing is official yet, if the deal goes through, Jadeja will reunite with the Royals after 16 years, having been part of their camp during the inaugural 2008 and 2009 seasons. The buzz around the trade intensified on Sunday after fans noticed Jadeja’s verified Instagram account, ‘royalnavghan’, had disappeared.
Jadeja was fairly active on social media, especially during the IPL seasons, when he often posted about his admiration and love for the Chennai franchise, along with a few occasional cryptic posts.
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With Jadeja's name being revealed in media reports as part of the Samson trade deal, fans must have rallied on social media to send him messages, but found his official account was inactive. It remains unknown whether Jadeja deleted or deactivated his account on his own or if it was hacked.
Jadeja began his IPL career in 2008 with Rajasthan Royals under the late Shane Warne and stayed with the team for the following season before joining the now-defunct Kochi Tuskers in 2011. Chennai Super Kings acquired him in 2012 and retained him as part of their core squad ahead of the mega auctions in 2018 and 2025. Jadeja was named captain ahead of the 2022 season, but after CSK managed just one win in their first eight games, MS Dhoni reclaimed the reins.
He was part of three of CSK’s five title wins, including his last-over heroics against Gujarat Titans in the 2023 final.
{{/usCountry}}He was part of three of CSK’s five title wins, including his last-over heroics against Gujarat Titans in the 2023 final.
{{/usCountry}}Overall, Jadeja has featured in 254 IPL matches — the fifth-most by any player — and is CSK’s highest wicket-taker with 143 scalps. He also shares the record for most Player-of-the-Match awards (16) for the franchise alongside Dhoni.
Earlier, The Indian Express reported that Rajasthan were always keen on acquiring an Indian spinner in exchange for Samson and had, therefore, pushed for Ravindra Jadeja. After Chennai agreed when negotiations were revived over the last few days, Rajasthan, who also had their eyes on fast bowler Matheesha Pathirana, made an additional demand. However, the five-time champions did not entertain it and instead proposed England all-rounder Sam Curran.