Former Team India Head Coach Rahul Dravid: Rahul Dravid is set to return to Rajasthan Royals as their head coach for the 2025 IPL season following the end of his tenure as the Indian cricket team coach in June where he helped the Men in Blue win the 2024 T20 World Cup, their first ICC title since the 2013 Champions Trophy.
According to ESPNCricinfo, Dravid has recently signed a deal with his former franchise Rajasthan Royals, for whom he was captain in IPL 2012 and 2013 and then was the team director and mentor for the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
According to the report, RR are also set to sign Vikram Rathour as an assistant coach while Kumar Sangakkara, who has been their director of cricket since 2021, will look after their teams in other leagues namely the Paarl Royals in the SA20 and Barbados Royals in the CPL.
After leaving the Royals in 2016, Dravid had signed with the Delhi Daredevils and stayed there till 209 when he was named the head of the National Cricket Academy. He was appointed the coach of the Indian cricket team in 2021 and recently ended his tenure after 3 years.
The Royals will hope that Dravid brings his Midas touch to the franchise and help them win the IPL, a tournament which they haven’t won since the inaugural edition in 2008. They finished runners-up in 2022 but were defeated by the Gujarat Titans while in 2023, they failed to make the play offs. In the 2024 season, they went one step farther but were knocked out by Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Qualifier 2.
