Having served Rajasthan Royals as a player, mentor and now head coach in the Indian Premier League (IPL), Rahul Dravid’s story has been intertwined with the Jaipur team for more than a decade.
Dravid joined the Royals in 2011, spending his first season under the captaincy of Shane Warne before taking over the reins himself. He captained the side until 2013 and then continued his association as team mentor till 2015. After nearly a decade away, he returned as head coach after IPL 2024.
Speaking with former Rajasthan Royals player Ravichandran Ashwin on a podcast, Dravid explained how his time with the Jaipur-based team shaped his coaching journey.
“I was actually quite lucky because I was playing for Rajasthan Royals at that point of time,” Dravid recalled.
“After Shane Warne left (after IPL 2011), I was playing the role of a coach-captain. The captain led the team and did a lot of the things around it, and I just continued in that role over the next couple of years.”
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Under Dravid’s leadership, the Royals finished third in the IPL 2013 points table and reached the Champions League T20 final the same year.
Dravid captained 40 matches across two seasons, winning 23 – the highest winning percentage (57.50%) among all Royals captains with 20 or more games.
Reflecting on the period, Rahul Dravid said, “You had to lead, do the auction, and understand the dynamics of the finances. In many ways, I was lucky to get that opportunity at the back end of my career. It gave me a sense of what coaching and working with young players would be like.”
Dravid, regarded as one of India’s greatest batters, transitioned into mentoring after his playing days. As a Royals mentor in 2014 and 2015, he built a culture where youngsters could thrive without fear.
His tenure also saw youngsters like Sanju Samson, Ajinkya Rahane and local talent Pravin Tambe, who had never played top-level cricket before joining the side, flourish at the Rajasthan Royals.
After his stint with the Royals, Dravid, as a coach, guided India’s U19 team to the World Cup final in 2016 and to the title in 2018, before taking charge of the senior men’s side in 2021.
Under Dravid, India reached the 2023 World Test Championship final, dominated the 2023 ODI World Cup before narrowly missing out in the final, and eventually lifted the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2024 – his farewell assignment as national coach.
