Former Indian Cricket Team coach Rahul Dravid is set to return to Rajasthan Royals (RR) as head coach ahead of the 2025 IPL season, following the end of his tenure as Team India’s coach after the T20 World Cup 2024 win in June this year.

Dravid recently signed a deal with RR and has had initial conversations on retention of players ahead of the upcoming mega auction for IPL 2025. He has a long-lived relationship with the RR captain Sanju Samson, who came through the under-19 ranks under Dravid’s supervision.

Dravid has a history with Rajasthan Royals. He captained the team in IPL 2012 and 2013, and also served as team director and mentor in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. In 2016, Rahul Dravid moved to Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) until he was appointed as the head of the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in 2019.

In 2021, Dravid became the head coach of the Indian Cricket team and ended his 3-years tenure with the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 title.

RR have only won the IPL title in the first season of Indian Premier League in 2008; the franchise’s second best finish was in 2022 when they came runners-up to Gujarat Titans. However, the franchise did not make it to the playoffs in 2023, finishing fifth in the league despite a good start to the season, but did so in 2024 and were knocked out in Qualifier 2.