Legendary South Africa National Cricket Team Batsman Ab de Villiers has submitted a colossal claim at the exit of the head coach Rahul Dravid of the Rajasthan Royals (RR).
Ab de Villiers is of the opinion that the Batting Great Rahul Dravid was actually kicked from the Rajasthan Royals (RR) after the team had not met expectations under his guidance.
Rahul Dravid and Rajasthan Royals break up
On Saturday, August 30, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) announced that they decided to renounce the head coach, Rahul Dravid, for the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026.
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Dravid was officially mentioned as the new Rajasthan Royals head coach in September 2024 and he drew a multi-year deal with the franchise.
It was a return home for Rahul Dravid because he has long been associated with the franchise. In 2011 he was introduced by the team before he was mentioned as the leader for the IPL 2012 and 2013 seasons. He then served as a Team Mentor and Director in 2014 and 2015.
The expectations were quite high from Rajasthan Royals under Rahul Dravid in 2025, who joined the team at the back of a T20 World Cup 2024 triumph with the India National Cricket Team.
The Rajasthan Royals, however, had a bad auction and performed terribly in IPL 2025, ending in ninth place on the point table with only four wins in 14 games.
In the statement, RR revealed that she offered Rahul Dravid a wider strategic role, but he chose not to accept it. According to reports, Kumar Sangakkara can be appointed as the new head coach, but nothing is being confirmed yet.
He is a kind of more lifelong character-RAHUL Dravid
Speaking on his social media show ‘360 Live’, AB De Villiers speculated that Dravid might have been fired after he had rejected the broader role and expressed his wish to be part of the team management.
“It sounds a bit like it was a kind of owner or management. They gave him an option to play a broader role in the team. He rejected that a bit. Maybe he was upset because he really wanted to be involved. He wanted to be in the dugout in the dugout. Maybe I don’t know. I didn’t say Villiers.
“He is a kind of bigger life and he knows a lot about the game. And I personally spoke with young people in this show. In fact, some of my interviews were with many people who talked about him who have a huge influence on their career. So yes, you will certainly be missed.”
Maybe they want to shake things a bit and continue with it – Ab de Villiers
Ab de Villiers further explained with a football analogy how Rahul Dravid was kicked because of underperformance and was of the opinion that the franchise is going through a large shakeup.
“Sometimes you also see it in the Premier League, the Football League, where the managers and the coaches are always under enormous pressure to perform and to bring trophies home. And if they don’t, they start to hear from the owners and whoever decided the decisions for the various competitions, sorry, franchises, who never of the other.
“But maybe Rajasthan has different ideas for the coming season. Maybe they want to shake things up a bit and continue with it. I don’t think they had the biggest auction the last time, because they let go of a number of incredible players, the will of Jos Butler, to name a few, but a huge sphere of their team think of a gradual kind of decline.”
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