New Delhi
Former India coach Rahul Dravid is all set to be back with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals as head coach. The developments were reported by cricket news website ESPNCricinfo on Wednesday (Sep 4).
Dravid has signed a deal with the IPL franchise, has had talks regarding the player retention ahead of December's mega auction as well, reported ESPNCricinfo further.
Kumar Sangakkara, who serves as the director of cricket at the Royals after being appointed in 2021, will continue in his role and will look after Royals' sister franchises Paarl Royals in SA20 and Barbados Royals in the Caribbean Premier League (IPL).
This won't be the first time Dravid would be associated with the franchise. He has already captained and coached them before.
Dravid led the Royals in two seasons, i.e., IPL 2012 and 2013 before serving as team director and mentor in 2014 and 2015 season. He moved to Delhi Capitals (erstwhile Daredevils) in 2016 before becoming National Cricket Academy (NCA) head in 2019.
RR captain Sanju Samson has also come up through cricketing structure under Dravid who was U-19 India coach for some time as well.
In 2021, Dravid was named senior India men's team coach and ended the 11-year ICC trophy draught with 2024 T20 World Cup victory.
Under Dravid, India reached the final of ODI World Cup 2023 at home as well as World Test Championship (WTC) 2021-23 Final but lost both to Australia.
Royals are still searching for their second IPL trophy after winning the inaugural edition in 2008. In the last three seasons, they have shown glimpses of achieving the same but haven't been able to go all the way through.
They were the runners-up in 2022 season before failing to make it to the playoffs in 2023. In 2024, they did enter the playoffs but lost in the Qualifier 2.