Former Sri Lanka Captain Replaces Rahul Dravid As Rajasthan Royals Head Coach For IPL 2026 | Cricket News

Kumar Sangakkara replaces Rahul Dravid as head coach of Rajasthan Royals for IPL 2026. (Picture Credit: X/@rajasthanroyals)

Former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara will be the head coach of Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2026. The Jaipur-based franchise took to X on Monday (November 17) to share a post via which they confirmed the news of Sangakkara’s return as head coach.

Sangakkara served as head coach of RR in IPL 2022, 2023 and 2024 as well. In 2025, when Dravid was appointed as team’s head coach after his tenure as India head coach came to an end, Sangakkara served as Director of Cricket at Rajasthan Royals.

Dravid resigned as head coach of Rajasthan Royals on August 30, 2025 and ahead of IPL 2026 auction, which is set to take place in Abu Dhabi on December 16, Royals have re-appointed Sangakkara as head coach.

Under Sangakkara’s guidance, Royals finished as runner-up in the 2022 edition of the IPL, and in 2024 they played in the second qualifier match as well.

“We are delighted to have Kumar return as head coach. As we looked at what the team needed at this stage, we felt that his familiarity within the squad, his leadership and his deep understanding of the Royals culture would bring the right balance of continuity and stability”, RR’s Lead Owner Manoj Badale said in a release.

“Kumar has always had our complete trust as a leader. His clarity, calmness and cricketing intelligence will play an important role in guiding the squad into this next phase,” he added.

Jadeja back in RR

On November 15, Rajasthan Royals confirmed the news of Ravindra Jadeja’s return to the Royals’ family. The Jamnagar-based Indian cricketer, who made his IPL debut in 2008 for Rajasthan Royals, joined the Jaipur-based franchise in a trade deal from Chennai Super Kings. Jadeja even took a pay cut of Rs 4 crore to join the inaugural edition winners. In addition to Jadeja, who is CSK’s highest wicket-taker in IPL history, England all-rounder Sam Curran also joined RR in a trade deal from Chennai Super Kings.

However, in return for Jadeja and Curran, Royals traded Sanju Samson to CSK. Samson is RR’s most capped player in IPL history, and in addition to that, the Kerala-based wicketkeeper-batter has scored the most runs (4027) and won the highest number of matches as captain (33) for Rajasthan Royals.