Three months after masterminding India’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024 triumph in the Americas to wrap up his stint as India coach on a high, Rahul Dravid is set to return to franchise cricket, and take over as the head coach of the Rajasthan Royals ahead of the 2025 Indian Premier League (IPL) season.
According to reliable sources close to the development, the talks between Dravid and the franchise have reached the final stages, and it is only a matter of time when The Wall returns to Rajasthan Royals ahead of the mega IPL auction.
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Dravid is familiar with the Rajasthan Royals set-up, having captained the franchise for two seasons in 2012 and 2013 before serving as mentor for two more years. Dravid then moved to Delhi Capitals in a similar role in 2016 and continued with the team till he assumed the role of the head of National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
In 2021, he moved on from NCA to replace Ravi Shastri as India’s head coach, and ended his three-year stint by guiding Rohit Sharma & Co to their first ICC title in 11 years.
Back at the Royals’ set-up, Dravid will reunite with Sanju Samson, who is all set to be retained as RR captain for another season. It was under Dravid’s watchful eyes, the Kerala wicketkeeper-batter came through the under-19 ranks.
The Statesman has learnt that the 52-year-old Dravid has had initial conversations on player retentions ahead of the upcoming IPL mega auction. The Rajasthan Royals have not won the IPL title since the inaugural season in 2008; their next best finish was in 2022 when they came runners-up to Gujarat Titans.
The Sanju Samson-led side failed to make the playoffs in 2023, finishing fifth in the league despite a terrific start to the season, but did so in 2024 and were knocked out in Qualifier 2, and the return of Dravid, now a World Cup-winning coach, into the Royals set-up could inject the much-needed firepower into the side.
Once Dravid takes charge of Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, it has been learnt that former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara, who has been the Royals’ Director of Cricket since 2021, will continue with their franchise and look after their teams in other leagues – Paarl Royals in the SA20 and Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League.
According to espncricinfo, besides Dravid, Vikram Rathour, who served as India’s batting coach during Dravid’s tenure, could also be roped in by the franchise as its assistant coach. Rathour has been one of India’s former selectors, before being a part of Dravid’s coaching staff at the NCA. He went on to become India’s batting coach in 2019 under Shastri and was retained after Dravid replaced Shastri.
