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As Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid returns to the city where his Indian Premier League journey started, the spotlight follows.
Rahul Dravid moves on a wheelchair with an injured leg before the start of the IPL game between Delhi Capitals and Rajasthan Royals (Picture credit: AFP)
Former India head coach Rahul Dravid, who is currently working with the Rajasthan Royals, on Wednesday, took a sarcastic dig at the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, pointing out how former players of the franchise have played very well against them at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The Bengaluru return curse has become a real thing in IPL 2025. Mohammed Siraj, KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, one by one, former RCB players have returned to the team’s home ground and delivered telling blows to their old side.
Bengaluru’s first-ever skipper Dravid is now attempting to guide a struggling Rajasthan unit out of a four-match losing spiral and given RCB’s home record, he might have a big chance at hand.
“Do we have an RCB player from last time? Play him in the XI straightaway,” Dravid said while speaking at the pre-match press conference.
Dravid cited cases of cricketers joining new teams and consequent lack of familiarity with the conditions as a possible reason for franchises complaining about the lack of home advantage in this Indian Premier League.
Multiple franchises such as Bengaluru, the Chennai Super Kings, Lucknow Super Giants and Kolkata Knight Riders had expressed unhappiness about the nature of tracks at their respective home venues.
“I think it depends from ground to ground. I’m not sure what specific franchises might have wanted from their curators, so to speak, but home advantage, generally, the teams are new as well right after a big auction,” Dravid said.
The former Indian cricketer then validated his arguments by giving the examples of players like Rajasthan’s Nitish Rana and Bengaluru’s Phil Salt, who joined those franchises after the IPL 2025 mega auction.
“It’s the first year after a big auction, so for a lot of the players as well, even though they may be your home players, they are playing for those teams or those grounds for the first time,” Dravid said.
“I’m just using him (Salt) as an example. We have players in our team, for example, someone like Nitish Rana (KKR) was not with us, and he’s playing for us this year, so for him, Jaipur is kind of a new ground,” Dravid added.
A win on Thursday for Rajasthan will ensure that their IPL 2025 campaign remains afloat.
