Kumar Sangakkara's KKR move denied by RR despite Rahul Dravid's sensational return

On Friday, September 6, the Rajasthan Royals (RR) confirmed that the legendary Sri Lankan batsman and franchise's Director of Cricket, Kumar Sangakkara, will continue to work with the team despite Rahul Dravid's sensational return.

In the last few days, reports of Kumar Sangakkara leaving RR took social media by storm. It was claimed that the Sri Lankan great was planning to leave Rajasthan Royals and was in talks with the Kolkata Knight Riders to take over the mentor's role following Gautam Gambhir's exit.

It would have been a massive boost to KKR, who have suffered a blow with Gautam Gambhir, Abhishek Nayar, and Ryan ten Doeschate leaving the franchise for Team India.

However, Rajasthan Royals officially thrashed those reports by announcing that Kumar Sangakkara would continue as the Director of Cricket and would work alongside the newly-appointed head coach Rahul Dravid.

Notably, Kumar Sangakkara served the dual role for Rajasthan Royals since 2021 as he was the franchise's Director of Cricket as well as the head coach. Also, now he would continue to look after their teams in other leagues - Paarl Royals in the SA20 and Barbados Royals in the CPL.

Kumar Sangakkara 🤝 Rahul Dravid 🔥💗

This is going to be exciting! 😍 pic.twitter.com/eAN4cvZsG1

— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) September 6, 2024

Rahul Dravid is one of the greatest players to have played the game - Kumar Sangakkara

In the official statement issued by Rajasthan Royals, Kumar Sangakkara welcomed Rahul Dravid as the head coach and labeled him as one of the all-time greats. He elaborated:

"Rahul is one of the greatest players to have played the game, but what he has achieved over the past decade as a coach is extraordinary. The characteristics that he possesses as a coach to nurture talent but also enable them to consistently perform at the highest level, will allow the Rajasthan Royals to further challenge for the title.

"I've already had some meaningful conversations with him about his vision for this team, and he is looking forward to delivering the results for the Royals."

Also, RR CEO Jake Lush McCrum revealed that Sangakkara and Dravid have already started working with the IPL 2025 mega auction around the corner.

"Rahul has already got to work with Kumar (Sangakkara) and the rest of the team, as we prepare for this exciting new period for the franchise starting with IPL retention and the auction just around the corner," said Jake Lush McCrum.

Talking further about Rahul Dravid, he has had a long-standing working relationship with RR and team captain Sanju Samson. He was the skipper of the team in IPL 2012 and 2013 and then served as the mentor in 2014 and 2015.

Rahul Dravid recently led India to the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 win and will be aiming to help Rajasthan Royals win their first Indian Premier League title since 2008. Notably, Rajasthan Royals won the inaugural edition of IPL but since then they haven't managed to get their hands on the trophy.

In the last few years, the performance of the franchise has significantly improved as they were runners-up in 2022 and made it to Qualifier 2 in 2024. In the next season, with Rahul Dravid in their camp, they would be looking to cross the final hurdle and lift the cup.