Image: Rajasthan Royals management is reportedly in a state of crisis / © ESPNcricinfo
When Rahul Dravid’s tenure as a coach of the Indian cricket team came to an end, he decided to coach an IPL team for the IPL 2025 season. For this, Rajasthan Royals proved to be a worthy team for him, as it would be a reunion with his former team in the Indian Premier League.
But things definitely didn’t go as expected for Rahul Dravid and the Rajasthan Royals as well. The team’s campaign in the IPL 2025 edition was thwarted by injuries and player selection posing as a major challenge. There were several matches where the team reached close to a win, but still fell short by a few runs.
Fans were totally unhappy with the performance of the Rajasthan Royals in the previous season, as the team became the second to be eliminated from the tournament. However, it was not just the fans who remained disappointed; there were a few members within the team itself who were not happy with the decisions.
Eventually, the Rajasthan Royals have suffered a lot over the past few months, turning out to be a challenging period for them. Jake Lush McCrum, the team’s CEO, has recently resigned from his post, adding another name to the list of departures being faced by the team after the IPL 2025 season came to an end. Let’s take a look at how things changed for the Rajasthan Royals over the past few months.
Rahul Dravid, who had just won the T20 World Cup with India, had his tenure with the international side come to an end. After this, he surely was approached by various IPL teams to be their Head Coach for the next few seasons. However, it was the Rajasthan Royals who took his interest, allowing Dravid to join the team as the new Head Coach.
It was thought to be beneficial for both the Rajasthan Royals and Rahul Dravid. Rajasthan Royals had not won any IPL title since its inaugural season, and Rahul Dravid had spent some of his best IPL seasons as a player for the team. With Dravid’s expertise as a coach, fans thought that they would finally be able to watch Rajasthan Royals lift their second IPL trophy.
With the IPL 2025 starting, Sanju Samson, who was the captain of Rajasthan Royals, was not cleared by the National Cricket Academy to play a full game and also keep the wickets. Due to this reason, Riyan Parag was announced as the stand-in captain in his place, and he was supposed to captain the team for the first three games.
The team didn’t get a good start to the tournament under the captaincy of Riyan Parag, as they lost the initial two matches. However, with Riyan Parag’s last game as the captain, he led the team to defeat Chennai Super Kings by a bare margin of 6 runs, ending his three-match stint as a stand-in captain on a positive note.
Sanju Samson also started the new season as a captain with a win, but it was followed by a losing streak. The team went on to consecutively lose games, both home and away, putting pressure on the management, players, and captain, Sanju Samson. With the team’s loss against Delhi Capitals in a Super Over, Riyan Parag returned to captaincy in the next game.
Samson also suffered from a side strain, which led to him playing just 9 matches out of the 14 Rajasthan Royals played in the previous season. However, there were also reports that Rahul Dravid, the new Head Coach of the team, showcased favouritism towards Riyan Parag, which was among the major reasons behind Samson being sidelined.
The reports of the rift between Sanju Samson and the team management were clearly seen by the fans during the team’s match against Delhi Capitals, which they lost in the Super Over. When the Rajasthan Royals were fielding, the team went to the dugout for some discussions, which even involved their Head Coach, Rahul Dravid.
Despite being the team’s captain, Sanju Samson was sidelined from the discussion while all the other players stood to listen to the team’s strategy. Among them was also Riyan Parag, who further went on to lead the team in its upcoming matches in the IPL 2025. Even with Samson’s side strain ruling him out for several games, the team’s situation didn’t improve.
A viral image of Sanju Samson standing beyond the boundary line after the team’s loss also speculated the rising tensions within the team. Rajasthan Royals further went on to finish at number 9 in the standings, which was definitely a bad finish for the team, which had Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach. Players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jofra Archer, Sanju Samson, and many more.
With the tensions between the Rajasthan Royals and Sanju Samson starting to grow, the trade window for the IPL 2026 season also opened. This was an opportunity not just for the teams that were in search of a new captain, but also for Sanju Samson, who was ignored or left alone in the Rajasthan Royals.
Chennai Super Kings, who finished 10th in the standings, also suffered from captaincy issues in the previous season, which were a bit similar to Rajasthan Royals. Their captain, Ruturaj Gaikwad, got ruled out of the tournament due to an injury, and with no possible replacement for him as a captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni took his place. But things did not turn out to be good for them, as the team finished last in the standings.
Various reports also say that the Chennai Super Kings have shown interest in getting Sanju Samson into their lineup. It is also unclear to the team which season could be the last for Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has kept the stumps for them since their first ever match in the history of the Indian Premier League. With the inclusion of Sanju Samson to the line-up, Chennai Super Kings will be able to solve their captaincy, batting order, and even wicket-keeping issues with just one trade.
As of now, no trade has taken place between the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings, but there are high chances for it to happen. Since the trade window is open till the auction for IPL 2026, both teams might be looking forward to some negotiations before Samson joins the Yellows in the Indian Premier League.
Rahul Dravid, who joined the team as a Head Coach, was definitely not happy with their performances in the IPL 2025 season. From leading the national side to win the T20 World Cup undefeated, to having lost a major number of games for the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL 2025 season. Rahul Dravid may have noticed that it was not a great decision by him to join the team.
Therefore, on 30 August 2025, within 3 months of the conclusion of the IPL final, Rahul Dravid stepped down as the Head Coach of the team and parted ways with them. Earlier, there were just speculations of internal rifts between the team’s management and Sanju Samson, but the immediate exit of Rahul Dravid as a Head Coach added more to these speculations.
The same day Rahul Dravid stepped down as the Head Coach of the team, the reports of internal rifts grew, as the Indian youngster, Yashasvi Jaiswal, stepped into the debate. It is not just said that the team was divided into various groups, which had different perspectives of a captain, but it also included that three players were a part of the same group.
A group in the team wanted Sanju Samson to be the captain of the side and continue with them in the upcoming seasons. On the other hand, there was another group that wanted Riyan Parag to be the captain of the team, seeing a future and long-term leader in him. Parag, leading the team in IPL 2025, was able to win just 2 out of 8 matches.
But to add another twist to the story of the Rajasthan Royals scenario, there was another group that wanted Yashasvi Jaiswal to be the captain of the side. He has been one of the finest openers for the team lately, and with his inclusion in the Test team, they saw him as a future leader.
Yashasvi Jaiswal also showed interest in being a part of the team after he was not included in the Indian side for the Asia Cup. Some analysts also say that Jaiswal wants to be the captain of Rajasthan Royals, which could help him to be noticed by the BCCI selectors, and eventually, he could make his way to the Indian team in the limited-overs format.
Even with the Indian Premier League coming to an end on 3 June 2025, there has been only one team that has constantly made it to the news, and it is the Rajasthan Royals. The exit of Rahul Dravid as the Head Coach, and the issues within the team had already made it to the headlines, which was also having a negative impact on the same.
Jake Lush McCrum, who was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the team, recently stepped down from his post, according to some reports. Although the Rajasthan Royals have not given any official report on the same, the reason behind his exit just after Rahul Dravid left the team remains unclear, and all things point to the issues within the team for captaincy.
McCrum joined the Rajasthan Royals back in 2017, and by 2021, he took the role of CEO. With him leaving the team, it adds more to the wounds of the Rajasthan Royals as the team prepares for the IPL 2026 season. It should also be noted that Jake Lush McCrum is also the CEO of Barbados Royals, which is another team coming under the RR franchise, playing in the Caribbean Premier League.