Former South African star claims Rahul Dravid was ‘Kicked Out’ after Rajasthan Royals poor IPL 2025 season – Cricket Country

Written by Srijal Upadhyay
Published: Sep 01, 2025, 09:17 AM (IST)
Edited: Sep 01, 2025, 09:17 AM (IST)
A day after Rahul Dravid stepped down as Rajasthan Royals’ head coach, former South African star AB de Villiers shared his take on the development. According to the franchise’s official statement, Dravid was offered a “broader role” as part of a structural review but chose not to accept it. “As part of the franchise structural review, Rahul had been offered a broader position at the franchise but has chosen not to take this,” the Royals said in their release.
However, de Villiers suggested that Dravid may not have left entirely on his own terms, saying he felt the Indian legend was “kicked out” of the setup.

“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.
Rahul Dravid, who previously captained Rajasthan Royals in 2012–13 and later served as mentor, returned as head coach for IPL 2025. However, RR endured a tough season, finishing ninth with just four wins in 14 matches. The campaign was further hit by skipper Sanju Samson’s side strain, which ruled him out of five games, leaving Riyan Parag to lead in his absence.

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