Indian cricket legend and T20 World Cup-winning India coach, Rahul Dravid is all set to make a return for his years-old franchise Rajasthan Royals ahead of the IPL 2025 season.
Dravid ended his stint with the Indian team following the conclusion of a successful T20 World Cup with the national side. Since then, Dravid has been linked with many sides like the Kolkata Knight Riders, as their mentor, the position which has been left vacant after Gautam Gambhir joined the Indian team as their head coach.
He was also approached with the idea of joining the ECB as the head white-ball coach of the Men’s England national team. However, some reports also claimed that Kumar Sangakara who has been the Director of Cricket for Royals will fill in the position in the England side and Dravid will fill in his shoes.
The ECB made the announcement of having appointed Brendon McCullum England’s red ball coach as their white ball coach as well. As per ESPNcricinfo, Dravid has recently signed a deal with the franchise and will also be a part of the player retention program before the mega-auction.
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The current Royals skipper Sanju Samson, has seen most of his career under Rahul Dravid, as he came under him from the under-19 days. Rahul Dravid was last seen in the IPL with the Royals back in 2012 and 2013 as their player, and their mentor in 2014 and 2015 before he moved to Delhi in 2016 and went on to become the coach of the National Cricket Academy in 2017.
However, Kumara Sangakara the Director of Cricket for Royals will resume his duties for the Royals franchise teams for other leagues, Barbados Royals in CPL and the Paarl Royals in the SA20. Also, former Indian batter, Vikram Rathour might be seen in an assistant role alongside Dravid in the RR camp.
Rajasthan Royals’ best performance since their title win in 2008, came in 2022, when they reached the finals against the Gujarat Titans while they finished third in the last edition in 2024, still awaiting their second title in the competition.