The former Indian head coach, Rahul Dravid, has praised their former Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, for bringing aggression and evolution in the shortest format. He reckoned that the Blue Brigade changed after the defeat against England in the T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval. 

Two years later, under his leadership, India lifted the title by beating South Africa in the T20 World Cup 2024 at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. During the recent interaction on Breakfast with Champions, Dravid reflected on their change of approach with the bat.

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“India is absolutely changing what T20 cricket is like. Indian batting in T20 cricket at the moment is off the charts. It’s close to 300 (runs per game), and everyone else in the world is now having to catch up. In the space of three or four years, you’re seeing that everyone’s looking at India and saying, ‘Shucks, man, we’ve got to match this.” Dravid expressed.

Watch: Rahul Dravid reflects on India’s evolution in T20I cricket thanks to Rohit Sharma

While saying that he only owned a part of the credit for the change, Dravid again highlighted the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, who later retired from the shortest format, along with Virat Kohli. The Nagpur-born has recently been taken out of the ODI captaincy.

Rahul Dravid: “There were lots of discussions with and around Rohit Sharma about playing a more aggressive brand of cricket. Rohit deserves a lot of credit for leading the team in that direction with such an attacking mindset.”

- This is what a secure coach looks like 🤍!! pic.twitter.com/E8uQn1YO11

— 𝐉𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞 (@jod_insane) October 30, 2025

“Certainly, from the time I came in, a lot of the discussion with Rohit was around how we wanted to play a more aggressive brand of cricket, and we tried (to do just that). We started right from the beginning because we could see that that’s the way the game was evolving, and Rohit’s got to take a large credit for that, right? To move the team in a particular direction.” The former Indian batter addressed. 

“It has to be driven by the leaders, right? It has to be driven by the captain. It has to be driven by the players because they’ve got to do it, right? They’ve got to take the risks. You might be giving them a certain amount of security, but in the end, they are the ones who’ve got to take those chances, take those risks.” Dravid concluded. 

India’s wicket-keeper batter, KL Rahul, had experienced a roller-coaster time in the 50-over format as he came into the middle-order of the line-up after opening the batting in the past. He was proven to be worthy and was picked ahead of Rishabh Pant in the ODI World Cup 2023 and the Champions Trophy 2025.

During a recent interview, Rahul recalled the time when he celebrated his century against Pakistan in the Asia Cup 2025 after being out of the second half of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 due to injury. The Karnataka batter revealed that the then head coach, Rahul Dravid, wasn’t pleased during his century celebration as he turned his back on the dressing room.

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“I'll tell you a story. So this was right after my injury. I was not supposed to play this game either. Shreyas Iyer was supposed to play, but he got a back spasm, and I ended up playing this game. For those four months, that I was out, through that hard phase, every morning I woke up and said the same thing, 'I'll be the best player in the world.” Rahul expressed on the ‘2 Sloggers’ podcast.

[WATCH] KL Rahul expresses how Rahul Dravid reacted to his century celebration in Asia Cup 2023

Rahul has smashed 3092 runs in 81 ODI innings. The 33-year-old has an average of 48.31 and a strike rate of 88.41 with the help of 18 half-centuries and seven centuries at the best score of 112 runs. He also contributed well in the recent three-match ODI series against Australia down under.

You will definitely love this side of KL Rahul.

Go & watch full epi on YouTube/2Sloggers. pic.twitter.com/IZjMQpko9o

— Kunal Yadav (@Kunal_KLR) October 28, 2025

“I motivated myself. The dressing room was on this side. I turned my back on the dressing room and then this celebration. Rahul Dravid, the coach, got a little upset. 'Why did you turn your back on the dressing room?' I said, 'No, sir, I meant no disrespect. ' In the four to five months that I was out, I had a dream that there was a statue of me with me celebrating like that.” Rahul shed light in the podcast.

The veteran also looked back at Dravid’s reaction when he heard about the salute dream. The right-handed batter remained unbeaten on 111 off 106 balls in Colombo.

Recently, Indian batter KL Rahul made an appearance in a podcast where he shared an interesting story of the 2023 Asia Cup. The story is from their match against arch-rival Pakistan, where former head coach Rahul Dravid said something to Rahul after the match ended.

Speaking on the ‘2 Sloggers’ YouTube show, Rahul revealed that Dravid wasn’t particularly pleased with one part of his celebration. The coach questioned him about turning his back to the dressing room after reaching the milestone, a gesture Dravid found a bit disrespectful at first glance.

Rahul immediately clarified to the head coach that it was only a celebration and he didn’t want to disrespect anyone. He just did the celebration out of excitement because it was the first century after coming back from an injury. After that, the misunderstanding between them was cleared up, and they both started laughing. Fans were ecstatic to hear the story and praised the strong brotherly bond between KL Rahul and Rahul Dravid.

See Also: From Phil Hughes to Shreyas Iyer: Notable freak injuries on the Cricket field

KL Rahul Shares an Unheard Story of Him With Rahul Dravid:

While talking about the incident, KL Rahul shared, “ The dressing room was on this side, and I turned my back to it while doing the celebration. Rahul Dravid, our coach, was a little upset and asked why I turned my back on the dressing room.”

Rahul explained that his celebration had no intention of being disrespectful. He shared that he told Dravid that it was just a pure celebration without any intention. After smashing a century against Pakistan in the 2023 Asia Cup, he got a little emotional because it was his first outing after coming back to the team. He was out of the team for a longer period of time due to an injury.

He further said, “ I told him, ‘No sir, I didn’t mean it as disrespect.’ During those months I was out injured, I had a dream about this celebration — like a statue pose. It wasn’t mine alone; it felt like it belonged to everyone. That’s why this celebration is so special to me.”

You will definitely love this side of KL Rahul.

Go & watch full epi on YouTube/2Sloggers. pic.twitter.com/IZjMQpko9o

— Kunal Yadav (@Kunal_KLR) October 28, 2025

The 2023 Asia Cup became a remarkable comeback chapter for KL Rahul. Originally not part of the playing XI, he was called in unexpectedly after Shreyas Iyer’s back spasm. After getting the unexpected chance against Pakistan, he utilized it to the fullest. He scored a century alongside Virat and put the team into a comfortable position. Later, they got a one-sided dominating victory over their arch-rival in the tournament.

In that talk show, Rahul accepted that 2023 had been a rough year for him. He said, “Oh yes, it was 2023… a bad, bad year.” Firstly picking the thigh injury during IPL against RCB which kept him away from the cricket field for a longer time, and also needed surgery for recovery which was tough for him not only physically but mentally as well.

Rahul also revealed that the recovery journey wasn't smooth at all. While he was fighting with physical pain, he was also dealing with constant trolling, which was even more challenging. He added, “Every morning, I woke up and told myself the same thing — that I’ll be the best player in the world. That’s how I kept motivating myself to keep going.”

The former Indian captain, Rohit Sharma, felt that their success in winning the 2025 season of Champions Trophy came due to the tenure of former head coach, Rahul Dravid, despite being under their new head coach, Gautam Gambhir. India bounced back from losing the 2023 World Cup final to winning two successive ICC events.

Rohit Sharma, who received a memento for earning the Champions Trophy 2025 by beating New Zealand in the final at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, revealed the details around the side’s philosophy.

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“Look, I love that team, loved playing with them, and it's a journey that we were all into for many years. It's not about one or two years of work. It was about getting into work after many years. We'd come so close to winning that trophy many times, but we couldn't just get over the line. That is where everyone decided that we need to do something different, and there are two ways to look at it.” The Mumbai batter expressed at the CEAT Award-winning function.

Rohit Sharma credits Rahul Dravid for India’s Champions Trophy 2025 success

Rohit felt that most of the strategies and rhythm of the Champions Trophy came through the ODI World Cup, when Dravid was the head coach of the national side. The Nagpur-born claimed that they would extend their focus to the next ICC event.

“There's always a thought of doing that and then actually going and doing that. It cannot be done by one or two players. We needed everyone to buy into that thought, which was good for everyone. All the guys who took part in that competition (Champions Trophy) got into that thought process of how to win games and how to challenge ourselves and not be complacent and not to take anything for granted.” The Indian opener shed light.

“Those were the qualities that we tried to bring in, and we thought it was a good method of just going and doing that repeatedly. Everyone enjoyed that process. Once we got over the line when we won the first game, we completely put that game aside and then started focusing on the next one.” Rohit Sharma concluded.

Anvay Dravid, son of former India captain Rahul Dravid, has been named captain and wicketkeeper of Karnataka’s Under-19 team for the upcoming Vinoo Mankad Trophy. The tournament is India’s top junior one-day competition and has helped many young players make their mark. Anvay’s promotion to captain shows how well he has performed in recent years at the junior level.

The 18-year-old has been one of Karnataka’s most talented young batters. He was the team’s highest run-scorer in the previous edition of the Vinoo Mankad Trophy and has shown great maturity at a young age. His leadership appointment is seen as a reward for his reliability and ability to perform under pressure.

Anvay’s form in recent years has been nothing short of outstanding. In the Under-16 Vijay Merchant Trophy, he topped Karnataka’s run charts for the second straight season, scoring 459 runs in six matches at a brilliant average of 91.80, including two centuries and 46 boundaries. His calm and composed approach has made him a cornerstone of Karnataka’s youth structure.

Karnataka Squads for the New Season

The Karnataka Under-19 squad for the Vinoo Mankad Trophy includes Anvay Dravid (captain, wk), Nitish Arya, Adarsh D Urs, S Manikanth (vice-captain), Praneeth Shetty, Vasav Venkatesh, Akshath Prabhakar, C Vaibhav, Kuldeep Singh Purohit, Rathan BR, Vaibhav Sharma, KA Tejas, Atharv Malviya, Sunny Kanchi, and Rehan Mohammed (wk).

See Also: Know full list of CEAT Cricket Awards 2025 winners ft. Rohit Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy

Meanwhile, Karnataka’s senior team has announced its squad for the 2025 Ranji Trophy opener against Saurashtra. The big news is Karun Nair's return after playing a major role in Vidarbha's title-winning season last year. Mayank Agarwal will lead the team, with Kruthik Krishna, Shikhar Shetty, and Mohsin Khan coming into the team looking to make an impact as Karnataka look to start strong this coming season.

In an exciting game ahead of the 2025-26 domestic season, two cricket legends of world cricket, Sachhin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid’s sons, Arjun Tendulkar and Samit Dravid, faced each other in an interesting battle during the ongoing Dr K. Thimmappiah Memorial Tournament in Bengaluru.

Preparing for another season with Goa after taking leave from his home base, Mumbai, Arjun has tried his best to earn success over the years, and in the KSA Secretary XI game, the junior India batter made an early impact by dismissing captain Nikin Jose for eight-ball duck in the third opener after getting into the battle with Samit in the same innings.

See Also: 'Salman doesn't know...'- Shoaib Akhtar furious with Pakistan's captain after six-wicket defeat to India in Super 4 stage of Asia Cup 2025

Samit, who missed the cut for the U-19 World Cup for next year, is along moving up the ranks and has been named among the probable for the forthcoming Ranji Trophy season. The 19-year-old spent time out of the game with injury since mid-2024 and walked at number five to falter their innings at 91/3.

Tendulkar vs Dravid in Karnataka vs Goa clash in KSCA Secretary XI ahead of 2025-26 edition

After striking a boundary within the first two balls he faced, Dravid was dismissed by Tendulkar for nine runs off 26 deliveries with the scorecard showing buzz in the social media platforms. At the end of the day’s play, KSCA was reduced to 245/8 with Arjun being the peak of the Goa bowlers, thanks to his figures of 3/50 in 17 overs. Goa had racked up 338 on the board in their first innings, where Samit had chipped in with 2/18 in nine overs.

Rahul Dravid’s son Samit Dravid was dismissed by Sachin Tendulkar’s son Arjun Tendulkar, today, in the K.Thimmapaiah Trophy conducted by the KSCA. pic.twitter.com/66XYApit2M

— Ramachandra.M| ರಾಮಚಂದ್ರ.ಎಮ್ (@nanuramu) September 22, 2025

In the same clash, Karun Nair also turned up at number four. Having been overlooked for the ongoing India A squad against Australia at home, Nair is focused to be back in the Indian squad for the two-match home Test series against the West Indies, after a poor time in England during the five-match Test series.

But it wasn’t a promising turnaround for Nair, who ended with three runs in 21 balls. In trying to go up his former Karnataka team-mate, V Kousik, who had switched to Goa ahead of the fresh season, he lost his wicket. The reports claimed that the veteran is unlikely to get selected for the West Indies Tests with Devdutt Padikkal likely to return.

Former Team India pacer Shivam Mavi recently shared a memorable incident involving Shubman Gill and Abhishek Sharma from the ICC Under-19 World Cup 2018, ahead of Team India’s Asia Cup 2025 campaign. The legendary Rahul Dravid had been the head coach of India’s Under-19 squad for that tournament, which began just two days after his birthday.

Mavi recalled how Gill and Abhishek, along with Kamlesh Nagarkoti, plotted to surprise Dravid with a birthday cake smash. “It was always Gill and Abhishek. Whether during team outings, team activities, or lunches and dinners, the two were always together. They said, 'Let's do a cake smash on Rahul sir's face.' And they actually did it,” Mavi told ESPN Cricinfo.

He also remembered how Gill and Abhishek wanted to get back at Bangladesh in the Under-19 World Cup quarterfinal. "Before our quarter-final, Gill and Abhishek said, 'We'll give it back to them.' They instructed Ishan Porel and Riyan Parag, the team's Bengali speakers, to be at their chirpiest. Then our two Punjabi boys would chip in from time to time,” Mavi added.

Gill and Abhishek Reunite at the Top

Under Dravid’s guidance, India went on to win the 2018 Under-19 World Cup, defeating Australia in the final. Gill’s brilliance was instrumental, finishing the tournament with 372 runs in six matches at an average of 124 and a strike rate of 112.38. The duo have since batted together on multiple occasions, dating back to their junior days, and reunited at the top of the order when Abhishek made his senior India debut during the tour of Zimbabwe last year.

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Despite Gill being out of the Indian T20I side since the Zimbabwe series, he has now been selected for the ongoing Asia Cup 2025. With Sanju Samson struggling in India’s recent T20I series against England and Abhishek scoring a brilliant century in the finale, all indications point towards Gill partnering with Abhishek at the top. India will face the UAE in their tournament opener in Dubai on Wednesday, September 10.

Some shocking reports have emerged about the future of Rahul Dravid in the Indian Premier League (IPL). After parting ways with Rajasthan Royals (RR), the ICC T20I World Cup-winning coach is currently not associated with any other IPL franchise, which has made the speculations more intense on social media platforms.

 In a recently published media report, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have some serious interest in the experienced coach. Regarding that, there are no strong confirmations about that, but in the near future, some significant developments are expected. In a media report, it is claimed that KKR CEO Venky Mysore is currently in the West Indies to monitor the ongoing Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

After his return to Mumbai from the West Indies, discussions about signing Rahul Dravid can move further. As of now, Rahul Dravid joining Kolkata Knight Riders remains as a possibility only. 

Read More: WATCH: Highlights of Rinku Singh's hammering 78* off 48 innings in UP T20 League

A final call yet to come 

On Saturday (August 30, 2025), Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) announced the departure of Rahul Dravid ahead of the IPL 2026. Through a press release, the franchise informed, "Rahul has been central to the Royals’ journey over many years. His leadership has influenced a generation of players, built strong values within the squad, and left an indelible mark on the culture of the franchise. As part of the franchise structural review, Rahul had been offered a broader position at the franchise but has chosen not to take this."

Dravid's second spell with Rajasthan Royals was underwhelming. The former India captain served the team between 2011 and 2015 as player and coach before returning to the club for the IPL 2025 season right after winning the T20 World Cup title. But his comeback became short-lived as Dravid and Rajasthan Royals decided to separate. 

It may sound like Rajasthan Royals’ head coach, Rahul Dravid’s absence was sudden, but it wasn’t surprising at all. Since the end of the last season, there has been so much speculation on the team’s performance, with just four wins in 14 games during the 2025 edition of the tournament. A better show was expected from the World Cup-winning coach. 

Dravid appeared to be a perfect fit for the philosophy of the franchise for his incredible hard work, patient grooming, and attention to detail. The reports claimed that there were three groups in the camp during the previous season. The first group wanted Riyan Parag to be the new leader of the side in place of Sanju Samson.

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Dravid’s departure was viewed as the fallout between the captain and head coach of the side. Samson wasn’t seemingly happy with the head coach, who had been fiercely protective of the player and often cited his development within the setup of the Royals’ franchise. This was another group that wanted Samson to continue with the leadership skills.

Rajasthan Royals continue with three different groups ahead of IPL 2026

The second group of the franchise backed Yashasvi Jaiswal as the future leader of the side. The left-handed batter has smashed a total of 2166 IPL runs in 66 innings, out of which 559 runs came in the previous season in 14 innings at an average of 43 and a strike rate of nearly 160, scoring six half-centuries at the best score of 75 runs.

It's not announced yet, but the sudden turn of events may work in Kumar Sangakkara’s favor. However, the IPL buzz is that he had previously been in talks with the other franchises. Over the next few days, RR is expected to hold a meeting. It’s not clear if Sangakkara will be part of the meeting, but the side’s batting coach, Vikram Rathour, will be attending the meeting.

“Rahul has been central to the Royals' journey for many years. His leadership has influenced a generation of players, instilled strong values within the squad, and left an indelible mark on the culture of the franchise.” The inaugural champions of the tournament expressed in a statement.

On Saturday (August 30, 2025), Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Rajasthan Royals (RR) announced that Rahul Dravid will not continue as their head coach ahead of the IPL 2026. Through a media release, the franchise informed that after a conversation, both parties decided to part ways. According to the franchise, they offered Rahul a more dynamic role, but he chose to step down rather than accept the new role. Thus, before the upcoming IPL season, the inaugural champion of the tournament will have to appoint a new coach to guide the troop.

"Rahul has been central to the Royals’ journey over many years. His leadership has influenced a generation of players, built strong values within the squad, and left an indelible mark on the culture of the franchise. 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 statement read.

Dravid's second spell with Rajasthan Royals was underwhelming. The former India captain served the team between2011 and 2015 as player and coach before returning to the club for the IPL 2025 season right after winning the T20 World Cup title. But his comeback became short-lived as Dravid and Rajasthan Royals decided to separate. 

Read More: [WATCH] 'Knew I wouldn't...'- Cheteshwar Pujara reveals why he didn't get regular chances in T20 leagues

Both had a tough time

Despite some promising matches and batting displays, as a team RR faced a tough season in 2025. His strategy during the mega auction was also under scrutiny. Ahead of the auction, they left multiple big names of world cricket and invested in some underrated talents. As a result, in 14 games they managed to win only four and finished as the ninth team of the points table. 

For most of the season, Dravid was in a wheelchair because of a foot injury he received while playing a club cricket match in Bengaluru. The coach and the club, both sides, had a tough time in IPL 2025.