Rahul Dravid to reunite with old IPL franchise as new head coach

Former India coach Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid's journey as Team India coach ended on a high as the unit won the T20 World Cup in his final hurrah. The triumph also ended India's long awaited drought at ICC events, with the Men In Blue securing their first ICC silverware since the 2013 Champions Trophy.

Dravid, who has been a loyal servant to Indian cricket, couldn't have asked for a better send off but the former India coach is now looking ahead for new roles. Amidst this an interesting report has emerged, linking Dravid with Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR).

"Talks are going on between RR and Dravid, and an announcement in this regard is round the corner," a source was quoted as saying by Times of India.

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Dravid has previously worked with the franchise, both in the capacity of a player and a mentor. He led the franchise during his playing days after joining in 2011 and went to play for three seasons before announcing his retirement. In 2014, he was appointed as the mentor of the same.

Apart from RR, Dravid has also served as the coach of Delhi Daredevils, now rechristened to Delhi Capitals. However, he had to discontinue his service after questions of conflict of interest was raised by former Committee of Administrators (CoA) member Ramachandra Guha.

Dravid then continued to work as the coach of India A and U-19, following which he became the head at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru. In 2021, Dravid took over as the head coach of Indian national team from Ravi Shastri.

Rajasthan have won IPL once, which was back in 2008, the year the cash rich league started. Ever since Rajasthan have delivered promising performances but have failed to clinch the trophy, which includes a runners-up position in IPL 2022.

If we look at the previous season, Rajasthan had finished third after losing against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the play-off tie. More so it'll be interesting to see if Rajasthan will continue with the services of Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara, who has been serving as the Director of Cricket in the franchise.