Rahul Dravid, who recently made a joke that he was unemployed after his tenure as Team India head coach ended, has received an offer from current Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to replace Gautam Gambhir as their mentor.
KKR had appointed Gautam Gambhir as their mentor ahead of IPL 2024 and the former 2-time IPL winning KKR captain, guided the franchise to their third IPL title.
However, Gambhir is scheduled to become the new head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, meaning that KKR would need to fill the vacancy for the 2025 season. Recently, it was also reported that Gautam Gambhir shot a farewell video at the Eden Gardens for the KKR fans, citing his reasons for leaving the franchise for India’s head coach job.
Rahul Dravid perfect choice for KKR as a franchise mentor
Rahul Dravid’s tenure as India’s head coach ended on June 29. Despite losing the World Test Championship final and the ODI World Cup final to Australia last year, Dravid rallied his team and retired with a T20 World Cup victory in Barbados last month.
Meanwhile, the News18 Bangla report stated that not only KKR, but several other IPL franchises have approached Rahul Dravid with offers. Notably, Dravid played for two franchises in IPL- Royal Challengers Bangalore and Rajasthan Royals, in his career from 2008-2013.
KKR, which is desperately looking for a capable replacement for Gambhir, is one of the IPL teams that wants Dravid as a coach or mentor for the 2025 season. The franchise is also open to making a more lucrative offer than Team India when he earned INR 12 crore as head coach.
He was hired as a mentor for the Rajasthan Royals from 2014 to 2015, and he also served as a Team India mentor during the 2014 tour of England. Later, he became the head coach of India’s U-19 and A teams. Aside from leading the U-19 team to the 2016 final and winning the title in 2018, he is also credited with developing future stars such as Rishabh Pant, Ishan Kishan, and Washington Sundar, among others.
Dravid also mentored the Delhi Capitals team in IPL 2016.
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