Last week, Rajasthan Royals (RR) parted ways with head coach Rahul Dravid, months ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 mini-auction. While the franchises specified in the media release that they offered a broader role to Dravid which he declined, former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter AB de Villiers feels that he was "sort of kicked out".
De Villiers talked about Dravid's influence on youngsters. He feels that Dravid will reveal what exactly happened later.
"It sort of sounds to me like it was an owner or management kind of call. They gave him an option to have a broader role in the team. He sort of turned that down. Maybe he was upset because he really wanted to be still involved. He wanted to be in the dugout. Maybe it was his call. I don't know. We'll. I'm pretty sure we'll find out once we get him talking about it in the future. Maybe. But Rahul, obviously, is leaving big footsteps behind, big shoes to fill," the former South Africa captain said on his YouTube channel.
"He's a larger-than-life kind of character, and he knows a lot about the game. And I personally have spoken to youngsters before on this show as well. Actually, some of my interviews were with a lot of people who spoke about him having a huge influence on their careers. So, yeah, you will definitely be missed."
ABD questions auction strategy, release of Buttler
IPL 2008-winners RR finished ninth on the points table in this year's edition. De Villiers explained the nature of T20 franchise leagues' owners. He feels that letting go of players like Jos Buttler and having an underwhelming IPL auction was one of the reason for Dravid's ouster.
"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 leagues, sorry, 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 like he was kicked out, which is never ideal,” the 41-year-old opined.
“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. They sometimes are 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 further added.