Former Indian cricket team head coach Rahul Dravid once again joins Rajasthan Royals, and he is set to start his second stint with the franchise as the head coach. Following Team India’s success in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, Dravid is fresh and aims to provide valuable guidance to the team.
During Rahul Dravid’s Era, Team India won the Asia Cup 2023 and was the runner-up of the ICC ODI World Cup and World Test Championship Final in 2023. Most importantly, the Men-in-Blue successfully concluded their 11-year ICC title drought period by lifting the most prestigious T20 World Cup 2024 trophy under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy and Rahul Dravid’s coaching.
As the former Indian cricketer’s contract concluded with India after the completion of the tournament, Dravid has been receiving lucrative offers from several IPL franchises to appoint him as a mentor or head coach. But, the legendary batsman chose to rewrite his own story and joined RR on a multi-year contract basis. Earlier, Dravid was captain, mentor, and coach of the team between 2011 and 2015.
Former Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakkara will continue as the Director of Cricket for Rajasthan Royals, and he feels thrilled to collaborate with Rahul Dravid in the upcoming seasons.
Why Rahul Dravid Became Rajasthan Royals Head Coach for IPL 2025?
Rahul Dravid’s strong relationship with Rajasthan Royals and decided to give respect for loyalty over money. One of the main reasons is the IPL 2011, where he was one of the most expensive players with a base price of USD 400,000. The entire cricketing world expected that he would play for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) having contributed his best to the franchise for three years since the first season in 2008.
Shockingly, RCB didn’t prefer to bid for him. At one stage, it seemed that Dravid would go unsold. This is where Rajasthan Royals came to his defense by adding him to the squad and bid a huge amount of USD 500,000 to acquire his services. As a result, a new chapter started in Rahul Dravid’s shortest-format cricketing career, and developed a strong relationship with the franchise.
In 51 matches, he scored 1,324 runs for the RR at an average of 27.02. Especially, in his first season for the franchise, Dravid scored 343 runs in 12 innings at an average of 31.18. He led Rajasthan Royals as a captain for the next three seasons in 34 matches. Later he joined the support staff as a mentor and coach in 2014 and 2015. It was the ex-Indian batter’s first appearance as a coach for any team and continued with the same role for the next four years. Gradually, Dravid started the second phase of his life in 2019 as a coach by nurturing young Indian cricketers at Under-19 and A-level.
Rahul Dravid Shares His Emotion on becoming RR Head Coach
A couple of days ago Rahul Dravid signed the deal with the franchise and shared his in-depth emotions. Here is what the new Rajasthan Royals head coach said:
“Yeah! I feel excited to return to the franchise which I have felt like a ‘home’ for several years in the past. Particularly after the World Cup, I felt it was a perfect time for me to take another challenge. I feel that Rajasthan Royals is the most suitable place to do that.
A lot of hard work and decision-making from Manoj, Jake, Kumar, and the team has been into success that the franchise has made in the past few years. It is a valuable chance for us to move this team to a higher level provided with the kind of talent and resources we have under our control, and I’m eagerly waiting to get started,” Rahul Dravid said.
Kumar Sangakkara praises Rahul Dravid: Feels excited to work with him
The Director of Cricket Kumar Sangakkara welcomed Rahul Dravid on a warm note by saying:
“ It’s Great! Rahul Dravid is one of the top players to play the game. But, his achievements in the past decade as a coach are nothing short of amazing. The abilities he possesses as a coach to encourage the rising talents helps them to perform at the highest level. Furthermore, it helps Rajasthan Royals to compete for the title. Earlier, I had some noteworthy conversations with him about the goals for the team. He is aiming to deliver promising results for the Royals,” Kumar Sangakkara said by welcoming Rahul Dravid back to the team.
Final Thoughts:
It is a fresh start for the 2008 champions under Rahul Dravid’s era. Earlier, Rajasthan Royals managed to qualify for playoffs only in the six editions, which includes two of them in the last six seasons. In recent times, the team started to exhibit a high level of consistency by concluding as the runner-up in 2022 and reaching the playoffs in 2024 under Sanju Samson’s captaincy. Finally, the Rajasthan Royals will try to get back into their winning ways and aim to lift the trophy after a long wait in the upcoming 18th edition