Out at nets, Sam Curran was spotted playing for Surrey, even though he’d been named unfit for IPL 2026. This didn’t sit well with Kumar Sangakkara. The Rajasthan Royals’ cricket director called it disappointing. An injury ruling had kept Curran off the field in the tournament.

Yet there he was, bowling and batting under English skies. Clarification came late, but the optics were already set. Playing club cricket while missing a franchise league raised questions. Not anger, exactly, more like quiet frustration. Commitments overlap sometimes, true. Still, timing makes all the difference.

Later, when talking about Rajasthan Royals missing the playoffs against the Gujarat Titans, Sangakkara said the team learned Curran had an injury that ended his season. Yet watching him play soon after for Surrey in the Vitality Blast made the Royals’ staff uneasy. That didn’t sit well.

Kumar Sangakkara calls the situation ‘Disappointing’

“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,” Sangakkara said. “We would have loved to have had him here playing for us.”

Sam Curran moved to the Rajasthan Royals after leaving the Chennai Super Kings in a deal wrapping up Jadeja and Samson, too. Injury questions kept him off the field all season, despite the switch making big waves at the time.

Without him around, Rajasthan brought in Sri Lanka's Dasun Shanaka on March 23 to fill the spot. This choice stirred debate since he left a deal with Lahore Qalandars for PSL 2026 behind, joining the Royals instead - leading to a year-long exclusion from the Pakistan league.

Sam Curran's back with Surrey now, three games under his belt, though he’s only swung the bat each time. Not once has he taken the ball in hand during these outings.
Talks around players pulling out after the IPL draft have started up again. Back in 2024, the BCCI brought in a policy: foreign athletes skipping the event post-selection faced a two-year suspension unless they had solid grounds.

“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".

Also read: RR Report Card: Full player ratings and what went wrong for Riyan Parag's side in IPL 2026

Even though he was let down, Sangakkara pointed out how some foreign players stuck around the team the whole season, even when they didn’t get much playtime.

“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,” he said.
“They’ve been here, they’ve done the hard yards, they’ve practised, they’ve carried water for the team, and they’ve really worked as hard as anyone else to support the team in this journey.”

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