Rajasthan Royals (RR) coach Rahul Dravid has admitted that playing cricket at his age ‘wasn’t a great idea’ after his appearance in a local match in Bengaluru led to a leg injury before the start of IPL 2025. The former India captain belatedly joined the RR pre-season camp and used wheelchairs and crutches during matches.
Dravid was playing for Vijaya Cricket Club (Malur) in a Third Division (Group I) match for the Nassur Memorial Shield in February. He played alongside his son Anvay and batted at No 6, scoring 10 off eight balls.
“Recovering well. I got some great support. Just, unfortunately, at my age, playing cricket matches wasn’t a great idea, I think. But it’s ok. It happens, so it’s fine," Dravid said at a press conference ahead of RR’s match against Chennai Super Kings in Guwahati.
RR haven’t had the best of starts to the IPL. They lost their first match of the season against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 44 runs and then to Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets.
“It’s early days, and there are a lot of positives," Dravid said of the season so far. “Against SRH, we probably gave away 25-30 extra runs on a flat wicket. And in the KKR game, we should have scored 25-30 more. But this is just the start. We’re confident about turning things around. I’m excited about this group. A couple of games haven’t gone our way, but in a long tournament, that happens. Sometimes it’s better to start slow and finish strong — and that’s exactly what we’re aiming for."
The 2008 champions are currently placed 10th on the points table with a net run rate (NRR) of -1.882.
Dravid also defended stand-in skipper Riyan Parag, who’s captaining the team for the first three matches because Sanju Samson’s injury is preventing him from keeping wickets. One of the highest scorers of last season, Parag, has managed just 29 runs at an average of 14.50 in the first two games.
“Look, Riyan [Parag] is one of our best batters, let’s be honest," Dravid said, speaking about Parag’s batting position. “And we want to give him as many balls as we possibly can. Twenty overs is a very short time, and the more balls Riyan Parag bats for us, the better it is as a team. But honestly, the move to No. 3 was a positive move to try and give him more time to bat. And we know how destructive a player he is, and if he gets more time, then he can score more runs, and that can benefit the team. And I think he’s quite comfortable; he’s more than capable of batting at any position," the head coach concluded.
