"Play him in the XI straightaway" - Rahul Dravid's cheeky demand ahead of RCB vs RR IPL 2025 match

With former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) players doing well against their ex-franchise this season, Rajasthan Royals head coach Rahul Dravid made a cheeky demand. He quipped that they will look to slot any player in their XI who previously featured for RCB. However, Dravid acknowledged that the Royals cannot afford any more slip-ups in the tournament if they are to win the trophy.

The likes of KL Rahul, Yuzvendra Chahal, and Mohammed Siraj have played critical roles in inflicting three successive home defeats on RCB. Rahul struck an unbeaten 93 for the Capitals. Meanwhile, Chahal and Siraj bowled match-winning spells for the Punjab Kings and Gujarat Titans, respectively, scripting wins for their teams.

At a presser on Wednesday, Dravid quipped ahead of the match against RCB in Bengaluru on Thursday, as quoted by ESPN Cricinfo:

"Do we have an RCB player from last time? Play him in the XI straightaway!"

However, the former Team India coach said they need to make a move up the points table quickly and cannot afford any mistakes in the remaining games.

"We know we have to play well to be still alive in this tournament. Every game from here on, the position we find ourselves in, we can't afford to make many mistakes. We've got to start climbing that table quickly and we've got to start winning games quickly, there's no options, no chances of slipping up anymore."

The Royals are currently eighth in the standings, losing six out of eight games. The last two defeats would have hurt them the most as Rajasthan lost from positions where they were favourites to win. The Royals suffered a super-over defeat to the Delhi Capitals and failed to score a manageable nine runs off the final six balls against the Lucknow Super Giants.

---

"Not really sure what specific franchises might have wanted from their curators or from their pitches" - Rahul Dravid

Rahul Dravid. (Image Credits: Getty)

When asked why most teams are struggling to win at home in IPL 2025, Dravid opined that most of the players are in the first year of their big auction cycle. Hence, they will take a year or so to get accustomed to the conditions. The 52-year-old elaborated:

"I'm not really sure what specific franchises might have wanted from their curators or from their pitches. But yeah, I think home advantage, generally, the teams are new as well, right? It's the first year of a big auction cycle, so for a lot of the players, even though they may be your home players, they are playing for those teams or those grounds for the first time. So maybe sometimes, I think that when you just have a big auction and there's a change of squad and a change of team, the home advantage may not be that significant."

The Royals have already lost to RCB once in IPL 2025.