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Bengaluru, May 01, 2025- Speaking exclusively on the Star Sports Press Room, Rajasthan Royals Head Coach’ Rahul Dravid shared his thoughts on Gen Gold talent Vaibhav Suryavanshi, the team’s long-term strategy, making it to the play-offs and their mindset ahead of a crucial match against Mumbai Indians.
Speaking exclusively on Star Sports Press Room, Rahul Dravid said on Rajasthan Royals’ chances for play-offs : “It’s a tight tournament. Teams at the bottom can beat teams at the top. The margins are small. We’re aware that with six points we’re low on the table, but we’re taking it one game at a time. The focus is on winning the next match—not worrying about the table. Even though we’ve kept one eye on the long-term by retaining young Indian players, we didn’t enter the season thinking only about the future. We believe we could win this year. The results haven’t always gone our way, but we’re not using our long-term thinking as an excuse. We’ve been competitive, just small moments have cost us. The players we backed are part of our vision for the future, but also good enough to win now.”
Rajasthan Royals’ Head Coach Rahul Dravid commented on Vaibhav Suryavanshi’s fearless approach: “For me, it’s really his fearlessness and the way he doesn’t get fazed by the occasion or the pressure around him, that’s something truly special. You don’t usually see that in someone so young. He also has a remarkable range of shots. He’ll need to keep working hard, developing his game, and improving. Teams will get smarter against him, and he’ll face ups and downs—that’s the nature of T20 cricket. From our side, we’re just encouraging him to play the way he enjoys—take the game on and express himself. Of course, he’ll make mistakes and learn from them, but for now, we just want him to have fun and soak in the experience.”
On nurturing young Indian talent in the Rajasthan Royals’ squad, Dravid said on Star Sports Press Room: “We’ve retained a lot of our exciting young Indian talent—Sanju Samson, Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, and Yashasvi Jaiswal. That meant we had to compromise a bit on overseas players, and we retained someone like Shimron Hetmyer in a finishing role since most of our Indian batters play in the top order. I’ve seen many talented youngsters—Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Prithvi Shaw, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Khaleel Ahmed—and some of them have taken different timelines to develop, and that’s okay. Vaibhav wasn’t picked just because he’s young, we genuinely felt that with a bit of work, he could succeed in this tournament. He’s got a high backlift, great bat speed, and very sharp hand-eye coordination. His ability to pick up length quickly is impressive, and that gives him real power.”
On Yashasvi Jaiswal’s maturity and role in guiding Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Dravid said on Star Sports Press Room : “Yashasvi has been incredibly consistent this season. Even at 22-23 years, he’s taking on a bit of a senior role, especially when playing alongside someone like Vaibhav. It’s great for his development too—to look back at how others supported him in his early years and now pay that forward by guiding younger players.”
On the upcoming Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians clash, Dravid said on Star Sports Press Room: “What I’ve been proud of is how calm this young group has remained, win or lose. We’ve trained and prepared well throughout, and even after a good performance, like Vaibhav’s last game, we haven’t made too much of a fuss internally. Tomorrow’s game is another opportunity—a big one—against a strong Mumbai Indians side. It’s exciting for our youngsters to test themselves against that level of talent. And hopefully, they’ll be able to put up a good show.”
Catch Rajasthan Royals vs Mumbai Indians at 7:30 PM on May 01, as teams race to the TATA IPL play-offs, live and exclusive on JioHotstar and Star Sports Network
