Rahul Dravid 'Sort Of Kicked Out' From Rajasthan Royals: South Africa Great's Blunt Take
Rahul Dravid has stepped down as Rajasthan Royals head coach. The move was announced by the franchise on social media on August 30.
- Rahul Dravid stepped down as Rajasthan Royals head coach. The move was announced by RR on August 30
- Dravid turned down a "broader position" within them, as per RR, but AB de Villiers feels otherwise
- "It sounds to me like the fact that he turned down that other role, sort of that he was kicked out," he said
A day after Rahul Dravid decided to step down as Rajasthan Royals head coach, South Africa legend AB de Villiers has put forward his opinion on the move. As per the franchise's official release announcing the decision, Dravid turned down a "broader position" within them. "As part of the franchise structural review, Rahul had been offered a broader position at the franchise but has chosen not to take this," read a part of the statement from RR. While talking about it in detail, de Villiers believes that Dravid was "kicked out" of the side.
"Sometimes you see it in the Premier League as well, the football league, where the managers and the coaches are always under huge pressure to perform and to bring trophies home. And once they don't, they start hearing from the owners and whoever makes the decisions for the various franchises, so we don't know the facts really. It sounds to me like the fact that he turned down that other role, sort of that he was kicked out, which is never ideal," said de Villiers during a live session on his YouTube channel.
"But maybe Rajasthan have different ideas for the upcoming season. Maybe they want to shake things up a bit and move forward with that. I don't think they had the greatest auction last time, as they let go of some incredible players, the likes of Jos Buttler, to name but a few, which I thought was a mistake. That sometimes is a good thing, but not overly aggressive for you. You can let one or two go, but they. They let a huge bulk of their team go at once, I think, a gradual sort of decline," he added.
Dravid led Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2012 and 2013 and mentored the side in the next two seasons. He returned to the RR setup ahead of IPL 2025 as the head coach. Under Dravid's coaching, RR finished at the ninth spot in the points table with just four wins in 14 matches. The unavailability of RR's regular skipper Sanju Samson also had a major role to play in the side's disappointing campaign. He played only nine matches due to a side strain, with Riyan Parag taking over the role of captaincy in his absence.
Rajasthan Royals
Rahul Dravid
AB de Villiers
South Africa Cricket Team