Former India opener turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra shared his views on Ravindra Jadeja agreeing to a pay cut for the IPL 2026 season. Jadeja was traded out from the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) to the Rajasthan Royals (RR) as well. Sam Curran also went from CSK to RR. And, Rajasthan traded out Sanju Samson to CSK as well.

“RR have got Jadeja but he has taken a pay cut. I am thinking he left CSK by taking a pay cut? Without a player’s consent you cannot change their price. He has taken 4 crores less to leave Chennai and that is mind boggling. Why does someone take a pay cut? Maybe he was done with CSK and did not want to stay there. But he could have done that by going into the auction as well. Have RR offered him captaincy? Was that the incentive for which he has gone towards RR? It is very interesting. There has to be bit more to it,” he said on his YouTube channel.

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Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra also stated that the 2016 champions SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) would have to look to buy bowlers during the IPL 2026 auction as well. They also released the likes of Mohammad Shami, Adam Zampa, Rahul Chahar, Wian Mulder, and Simarjeet Singh as well. He also said that they required no changes in the batting line-up, having retained the likes of Abhishek Sharma, Travis Head, Ishan Kishan, and Klassen, among others.

“SRH have released a lot of players so they will have to do something with the bowling. Their batting is alright and there is no need for change there. They have to shop for bowling and they have the money,” Aakash Chopra concluded.