IPL 2025: Rajasthan Royals made a big change before the auction, made former player who played 7 ODIs the coach

IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals have announced former India batting coach Vikram Rathore as the new batting coach of the team. The move reunites Rathore, the former India opener and selector, with Rahul Dravid at the franchise, before his tenure with the national team ended with a win in the Men's T20 World Cup in June. It is an absolute privilege to be a part of the Royals family. An opportunity to once again work with Rahul and now a talented group of young cricketers is extremely exciting. I look forward to contributing to the team's collective vision and working towards our goal of developing top-class players for the Royals and India, who can help win championships.

A former India opener, Rathore played six Tests and seven ODIs before taking over as the team's batting coach from 2019 to 2024. Under him, batsmen such as Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Shreyas Iyer, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul rose to prominence across formats in the national team. RR head coach Rahul Dravid said, "Having worked closely with Vikram for a number of years, I can say with full confidence that his technical expertise, calm demeanour and deep understanding of Indian conditions make him a perfect fit for the Royals."

Dravid said, "We have forged a very strong bond over time, as together, we took India to many successes. I really look forward to working with him again.". His knowledge about nurturing young talent and extracting the best from players will come in handy when we look to strengthen our squad further and continue in our endeavor to build RR into a world-class side." Before joining the Indian team as batting coach in 2019, Rathour was also a national selector for four years. He has also coached Punjab and Himachal Pradesh in domestic cricket and also worked with Punjab Kings in the IPL. Most recently, Rathore was part of the New Zealand support staff for the one-off Test against Afghanistan in Greater Noida, which was washed out without a single ball bowled owing to incessant rain and wet outfield.