After leading India to victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup in June of this year. Rahul Dravid is set to become the new head coach of the Rajasthan Royals in the 2025 Indian Premier League season.
Prior to the upcoming mega auction, Dravid has had preliminary discussions with the team on player retention as he recently inked a contract with them. Sanju Samson, the RR captain, has been a longtime collaborator; under Dravid’s guidance, Samson rose through the under-19 ranks.
David and RR have a past. In the IPL 2012 and 2013, he captained them, and in the 2014 and 2015 seasons, he functioned as mentor and team director. Then Dravid joined the Delhi Daredevils (now the Delhi Capitals) in 2016, and in 2019 he was appointed head of the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru. He took over as head coach of the India men’s team in 2021, and at the end of his three-year tenure, the team won their first ICC championship in eleven years.
RR is also expected to hire former India batsman and batting coach Vikram Rathour as one of Dravid’s assistant coaches. Rathour, a former India selector, was on Dravid’s coaching team at NCA until becoming India’s batting coach in 2019.
The expectation is that Kumar Sangakkara, who has been the team’s director of cricket since 2021, will continue in that role and oversee the teams in other leagues, such as the SA20’s Paarl Royals and the CPL’s Barbados Royals, while Dravid will lead the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
Since winning the first IPL season in 2008, RR has not won the championship again; their best result was in 2022 when they finished second behind Gujarat Titans. Despite having a fantastic start to the season, they finished fifth in the league in 2023 and missed the playoffs. However, they had a great season in 2024 but were eliminated in Qualifier 2.
