The former head coach of the Indian men’s side, Rahul Dravid, helped the Rohit Sharma-led side to win their second title of the 20-over tournament in the West Indies and United States of America (USA), beating South Africa in the final at Barbados, has joined his former franchise of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals, as their new head coach.
The veteran had a successful stint with the national side, where besides lifting the trophy, they were able to become the runners-up of last year’s ODI World Cup 2023 at home, where they lost the final to Australia after being unbeaten throughout the tournament.
Rahul Dravid was the former captain of the inaugural champions of the tournament during the 2012 and 2013 seasons before he was promoted as the mentor of the side in 2014 and 2015. Now, he is back in a multi-year contract with the Sanju Samson-led side, aiming for their second title since 2008.
High-profile IPL franchise offers blank cheque to Rahul Dravid
The former Indian batter marks his return to the tournament for the very first time since 2019, when he became the new head of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, after which he replaced Ravi Shastri to be the new member of the Indian team.
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Rahul Dravid has worked with the U-19 and A teams in the past as their head coach, which has strengthened the relationship between him and Samson, and that’s something that would help the Royals in the upcoming seasons of the tournament.
However, Cricbuzz has reported that a high-profile IPL franchise was willing to earn the services of the Karnataka-born, for which they were ready to offer a blank cheque to the former player, but one of the biggest qualities of Dravid is being simple, pure, and loyal, which pushed him to turn the offer down and select Rajasthan as his franchise.
“It’s an exciting opportunity for us to take this team to the next level given the kind of talent and resources we have at our disposal, and I’m looking forward to getting started.” Rahul Dravid expressed after the appointment.
He went to work with the Delhi franchise for two years in between but, that too happened only because the Rajasthan side was serving the two-year ban. Under his captaincy, the Royals didn’t make a great end in the 2012 season but showed great development in the following season, finishing in the third position in the ranks.
Rahul Dravid made a call of being ‘jobless’ towards the end of his tenure as the head coach of the Indian side, but now, three months later, the expectation is to see him working closely with the other staff members of the franchise and Kumar Sangakkara, the director of cricket of the Royals side.
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“Rahul is one of the greatest players to have played the game, but what he has achieved over the past decade as a coach is extraordinary.” The former Sri Lankan batter expressed in the press release of RR. “The characteristics that he possesses as a coach to nurture talent but also enable them to consistently perform at the highest level, will allow the Rajasthan Royals to further challenge for the title.”
“I‘ve already had some meaningful conversations with him about his vision for this team, and he is looking forward to delivering the results for the Royals.” Sangakkara continued.
The Royals finished among the top four sides of the IPL 2024 but lost the second qualifier game to Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).