With India winning the T20 World Cup 2024, Rahul Dravid’s tenure as head coach ended. Dravid was replaced by Gautam Gambhir, who was the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in IPL 2024. Recently there was a discussion that after Gambhir’s departure, Dravid could get a big responsibility in KKR. However, now an important news has come out, in which it was told that Dravid may join Rajasthan Royals (RR) and not KKR. He can be seen taking over the responsibility of RR’s head coach in IPL 2025.
According to reports, 51-year-old Dravid is likely to return to RR. A reliable source said, “Talks are going on between RR and Dravid and an announcement in this regard will be made soon.” Dravid has had a long relationship with RR. He has been the captain of RR. Under his captaincy, the franchise reached the Champions League T20 final and IPL playoffs in the year 2013. He also served as mentor in 2014 and 2015 and both the time, the team finished third. After his recent success, the RR management will once again appoint him.
However, it is not clear if the franchise will retain Kumar Sangakkara if Dravid joins RR. Sangakkara has been the Royals’ Director of Cricket since 2021. Former captain and veteran batsman Dravid has been associated with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) since 2015.
He was the head coach of the India Under-19 and India ‘A’ teams. He then became the chairman of the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He took over as the head coach of the Indian senior team from October 2021.
Dravid had made it clear even before the start of the T20 World Cup that he would not apply for the post of head coach again. Actually, Dravid did not want to keep himself away from the family by traveling 10 months a year as a coach.
On the other hand, the case is different in IPL. In IPL, Dravid will need to stay with the franchise for only 2-3 months a year. In such a situation, he will be able to give more time to his family. He played 89 matches in the 2008 to 2013 IPL, scoring 2174 runs with the help of 11 half-centuries.