Former India cricketer Rahul Dravid was officially announced as the head coach of the Rajasthan Royals on Friday. Dravid recently concluded his tenure as head coach of the Indian men’s cricket team, which culminated in a T20 World Cup victory in Barbados on June 29.
Dravid has a long association with the Royals. He joined the franchise in 2011 after a three-year period with the Royal Challengers Bangalore and captained the team during the 2012 and 2013 seasons. He later served as team director and mentor for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
In the subsequent season, he moved to the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) before assuming leadership of the BCCI’s National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in 2019. Dravid also took charge of the India A team and the U-19 squad, leading the latter to a World Cup victory in 2018.
The rumors about RR approaching Dravid have long been in the media, with few reports even claiming that the former India head coach was approached by Kolkata Knight Riders as a replacement for Gautam Gambhir, who left the mentor’s role to coach the Indian team.
However, Rajasthan made the announcement on their social media handle with a picture of the India great being handed the franchise’s pink jersey by the Royals Sports Group CEO Jake Lush McCrum after Dravid signed the deal in Bengaluru.
The Royals have not won the IPL trophy since lifting the title in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2008 under the late great Shane Warne. They did come close to ending the drought in 2022, when Sanju Samson led the side to the final, but ended up as runners-up to Gujarat Titans.
In 2023, Rajasthan had made a terrific start to the season, but failed to make playoffs after finishing fifth. However, in the following season, they did make amends to make the top four, but were knocked out in Qualifier 2.
